


Our Time Is Running Out

by AlexandraElla



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Character Death, Death, Deathfic, Drama, Fanfiction, Fantasy, Frerard, Friendship/Love, Gay Male Character, Love, M/M, Romance, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-22
Updated: 2011-07-12
Packaged: 2017-10-19 16:59:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 37
Words: 26,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/203111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexandraElla/pseuds/AlexandraElla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The year is 2005. The location is New York.</p><p>Earth has turned to hell. The people left are all gathered in New York. They're panicked, devastated and abject.<br/>People have always been stupid enough to ruin the world, be greedy and to treat all living things badly. Now God, in the form of a dark cloud circling the city, has taken his revenge on the humans.</p><p>Since year 1900 he made life miserable for the people. He sucked the gift of feeling happy out of the humans' systems.<br/>Death is a privilege you have to earn by walking the terrifying earth for 30 years.<br/>Killing yourself, dying in an accident or being murdered results in you being reborn and having to start the long journey all over again.</p><p>Now, 105 years later, there aren't many people left living.<br/>Gerard was born into the miserable world and is 29 years old. He is impatient to finally meet his maker and be able to find peace.<br/>Then he meets the cocky and lively Frank and Gerard's view of the world changes. Now it's a matter of trying to survive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fires

The cloaked male approached the big group of people on a street slowly. This was something he didn't want to miss. Fires were burning all over town, like they always did. Panic and fear were the scents lingering in the air. He hugged his long coat closer to his body and looked around. He could see glowing ashes dancing around in the sky.  
He pushed his way through the bunch of people recklessly, occasionally mumbling a quiet 'sorry' to those who got annoyed with him.

The center of the people's attention was a man standing by a broken street lamp. He was the only one smiling.  
The man shifted his weight from one foot to the other multiple times. The people watched him carefully in total silence. They could have done anything to be in his shoes.

The cloaked man watched the scene breathlessly as a bell rang. It was midnight and a new day had begun.  
The exact moment the sound of the bell reached the ears of the people, a shriek escaped the lips of the man by the street light. He laughed maniacally and fell down to his knees.  
Shadows of the lively flames from the fire caressed his face. He screamed and laughed in turns, digging his hands into his legs.

The cloaked man felt cold as the dark cloud, which always hung over the city, reached with it's frail arms towards the man on his knees. He had watched the same thing happen a number of times, but it never stopped to amaze him.  
The dark cloud surrounded the man on his knees and lifted him towards the sky. The people watching the happening could see a white substance being sucked out of his mouth. Then it was over.  
It wouldn't get better than that.

The dark cloud let go of the now lifeless body and it fell to the ground with a loud thump. Since there was nothing left to see, everyone left the place quickly.  
The cloaked man stayed at the scene a while longer. "Happy birthday." he whispered to the body on the street. He turned his gaze to the fires placed randomly on the streets. They continues to spew ashes.  
He knew that the body would be gone by the morning. Probably eaten by various types of animals.

 _It will soon be my turn. I just have to be wait a little bit more_ , he thought and walked into the night.


	2. Mirror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting to know the main character.

The cloaked man entered the old abandoned apartment which was the closest thing he had to a home. He shut the door carefully behind him and then removed his heavy coat and old black hoodie. He let the pieces of clothing fall to the ground.  
The next thing being removed was the shoes. He carelessly kicked his black shoes off. One hit the wall and fell down with a small flop. The man was now only in his black t-shirt and his beloved pair of dark blue jeans.

He yawned and stretched his arms up into the air as he walked towards the bathroom. The old rundown apartment lacked of many things such as electricity, good furniture and heart. But the man was still happy with it as the water worked.  
His eyes scanned the bathroom. As usual the room looked like shit. Some of the black floor quarries were missing and the room smelled like mold. Actually, the whole apartment smelled like mold.  
Not like he could afford to be picky with his sleeping places.

He walked towards the sink standing next to an old toilet. A broken mirror hung over the sink. Only small shards of the reflecting glass were still up on the wall.  
He could barely see his whole face in the biggest piece of glass. The man stared at his reflection.  
A young man with high cheekbones, dark eyebrows, messy black hair, a pointy nose and a pair of sad green eyes stared back at him. His skin was dry and his expression lifeless.

The man's name was Gerard. Gerard Way. He was 29 years and 10 months old and counting the days until his 30th birthday. The day that he would finally leave the miserable earth, or hell as Gerard thought of it, and have the life being sucked out of him by the omnipotent cloud.

Gerard turned the water on and splashed the clear liquid onto his face. He dried his face with his arm and walked out of the bathroom.  
On the floor a shabby mattress laid. That was where Gerard slept every single night. He laid down on it and closed his eyes to ignore the red licking lights from the fires entering the apartment through a window.  
It was cold and Gerard had goose pimples all over his body. Soon he managed to fall asleep though.  
Not even the screams from people in agony walking the streets outside could wake him up.


	3. Pregnancy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gerard needs to refill his shelves with food and walks outside. He then hears someone screaming and investigates where the sound came from.

Gerard woke up to the sound of a ringing alarm. He groaned and covered his ears with his hands but not even that could make the sound less annoying.  
It was morning and it would have been broad daylight if the dark cloud wasn't blocking the sun and bathing the world in a dark and obscure red light.

Gerard hadn't actually seen the sun. Not in his entire life. For him it wasn't yellow. It was red.  
The man reluctantly stretched his stiff muscles and got off the shabby mattress. The dusty thing to sleep on wasn't doing anything good for Gerard's back.  
He felt quite low as he had no idea what he was supposed to do. He figured that looking for food was a logical thing since his stomach was aching and growling loud as a wild tiger.

Gerard was actually just counting the days until his death. The sweet release and the only thing worth looking forward to. He was sick of feeling empty and miserable.  
Luckily enough he only had to walk the earth two more months. Then it would all be over.

A long time ago Gerard actually had someone to spend his time with. It was his mom but it didn't matter to him as she had been someone he could talk to and lean on. They had waited together.  
Then when Gerard was nine years old his mother turned thirty. And turning thirty means dying. Gerard had felt so devastated.  
He could still remember her face when the cloud embraced her. Smiling. Whispering the three little words ' I love you'.

Gerard knew that he should be angry with her for bringing him into the world of misery. But he just couldn't. It was his precious mother, after all.

Gerard had tried to copy the smiles and pleased expressions on the faces of those who were about to get their life sucked out of them. He never even got close though.  
His smiles looked creepy and not warm and genuine like theirs. Trying to smile only made him feel more empty and he got the feeling that he was missing out on something amazing.

He stepped into the kitchen and scanned the shelves after something to eat. Not like there was anything on the shelves at all. They were dusty and had spider webs hanging from the edges.  
Gerard groaned. He had to go to a store to get something to eat.

As most of the older and more experienced people died their knowledge went into the grave with them. There weren't many people who knew how to produce greens anymore. Not like it was possible for the plants to survive underneath the amounts of ashes lying in banks on the ground.  
The small population of living people mostly fed themselves with old canned soups and dried meat.

Gerard raked his greasy hair with his fingers and sighed. He was actually afraid to go out on the streets. He was afraid that someone would kill him or that something would happen. That would result in him being reborn and having to wait 30 more years until his death.  
He slipped into his shoes and grabbed his coat.

The streets were practically empty and Gerard sighed with relief. No people meant that the risk of being killed was reduced drastically. He walked towards the only store close by with quick steps. Pulling his coat closer to his body and looking down on the scuffed paving stones.  
Suddenly he heard a scream. Gerard's head turned to the direction the scream came from.

By reflex he started running towards the sound and found a woman lying on the ground. Her belly was the size of an elephant. She was pregnant.  
Gerard felt sad as he knew what the child was up for. 30 years of suffering and emptiness.

Her huge eyes watched Gerard and she moaned loudly and dug her fingers into her swelling stomach. "Help me!" she wailed and let out a small shriek. Gerard shook his head slowly. He didn't have the time or energy to help a stranger.  
He could see the panic growing in her eyes.

"Don't go! Please, sir. I'm about to have a baby." she screeched. Gerard stared at her. It was quite obvious that she needed help. And even more obvious that she was having a baby.  
"I've tried to abort the baby so many times. But it just comes back. I don't want to give birth." she rambled. Gerard didn't know what to say or do. He turned around and started walking away from the female in labor.

"Don't leave." she cried after him and he could hear her loud sobs as he walked away.


	4. Someone Will Bleed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gerard discovers a wounded man lying nexto to his staircase.

Gerard hid the packages of dried meat and some cans with chunky soups on the inside of his coat, where a practical pocket was placed. He had also bought a candy bar as a small treat for himself.

One thing Gerard couldn't understand was why people still were using money as payment. It wasn't practical since there were basically no workers who could earn the money by their jobs. Instead, the banks gave small amounts of money to every single person that came and asked for it one time each week.

All you had to do was to say your name to the person working at the bank and he, or she, would then draw a thick line over your name on a huge list to confirm that you already got money once that week. Then the person working there would give you the money.

Gerard knew that he had to be discrete about the fact that he was carrying something eatable, or people would flock around him like vultures and steal his food. If he was unlucky they would probably try to steal his clothes and wound him too.

The last part scared Gerard. He hadn't waited 30 years to stumble right before the finish-line and get himself killed just two months before the big day.

Gerard walked quickly towards the old apartment which was his sanctuary. The wind was full of flakes of ashes which whipped the dark haired man in the face. He squinted his eyes and pursed his lips together to avoid getting anything in his mouth or eyes.

He passed a big fire on his way back to the apartment. The fire was fully alive, its long arms licked the dark sky like greedy tongues. The heat coming from the fire was familiar and made Gerard relax and slow his pace down.  
A couple of people sat in front of the fire.

Their dirty faces were turned to the red flames. One of them, a young female with long tangled hair, had her arms stretched out towards the fire which was quite understandable since it was a chilly day. Gerard didn't stop to look at the fire for more than a couple of minutes before he started walking again.

The food he carried felt like ticking bombs underneath his coat. Every time he walked past people on the street he started sweating and panicking, believing that they knew what he was hiding. In fact the most suspect thing was probably Gerard's bewildered and worried gaze.

When he finally reached the big building with his apartment on the second floor, he sighed with relief. He opened the front door with its joints singing on their last verse.

The sight meeting him made him freeze. On the floor right next to the stairs leading to Gerard's place a man laid curled up to the wall in a small puddle of his own blood.


	5. Tattoos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gerard has to make some big desicions about the tattooed man.

_The sight meeting him made him freeze. On the floor right next to the stairs leading to Gerard's place a man laid curled up to the wall in a small puddle of his own blood._

Who is he? Are the people who hurt him still around? Are they going to kill me? Is that tattoos on his body? Will he survive?  
All of those questions swirled inside Gerard's head like racing horses.

Gerard could have just ignored the man and continued up the stairs, locking the door, and hoping that the man would be gone in the morning. He could have done just that but he didn't.

Instead Gerard walked forward to the body, who laid curled up in a ball with his face turned towards a wall, and crouched down next to it. Gerard reached his hand out until it vibrated right next to the body.

He was afraid to touch it. Like something would jump him if he did.

Gerard swallowed his fears and touched the man's shoulder lightly. Nothing happened. Not a single reaction.

The body was breathing slightly which was a good sign. At least he isn't dead, Gerard figured. He turned the tattooed man so he was lying on his back, facing the ceiling.

Gerard was surprised to see the face of the man lying down. He had a piercing in his lip and one in his nose. His hair was also quite extreme. The sides were shorter and bleached blond while the mid section was quite long and black.

Gerard also found the source of the pierced man's loss of blood. It was a big and utterly nasty wound on his thigh. It was deep and stretched from the man's hip and almost down to his knee.

The wound wasn't new since the blood had stopped gushing out. Gerard wondered how long the man had been lying there. Most of all he wondered what caused the wound.

Now Gerard had to make another decision. Should he leave the man or not? Gerard figured that he was possibly putting himself in danger by helping the bleeding man.

Gerard clenched his hands into fists and whimpered.

Then he decided to do something unselfish, for practically the first time in his life, and he grabbed the collar of the unconscious man's T-shirt and started dragging him up the stairs.

Gerard who wasn't the most athletic man in the world found the journey exhausting. He clenched his jaw and sweat dripped from his forehead.

The man's leg bobbled when they hit every step, leaving small trails of blood wherever Gerard would drag him.   
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	6. Awake And Alive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gerard tries to fix the huge wound on the tattooed man's leg.

Gerard slammed the door to his scruffy apartment closed and dragged the bleeding man over to the mattress placed in the main room. A puff of dust was spewed out of the dirty fabric as the body of the unconscious man was dropped on it.

Gerard raked his sweaty hair with his hands and stared at the body in disbelief. The damp tufts of hair being removed from his anxious face for a while to then return as soon as Gerard's hand dropped to his sides.

The panic was impossible to avoid. How the hell am I supposed to act? he thought and felt how his whole body was shaking. Forced breaths, which were trying to sound calm, escaped his chapped lips.

Gerard looked at the man lying on the mattress. So fragile, vulnerable and utterly in need of Gerard's help. The man's lips were trembling like he knew that someone was watching him fight for his life.

Gerard knew that he had to act quickly. It was a matter of whether or not the man would survive. Gerard knelt down next to the mattress and placed his hand on the tattooed man's knee, right below the injury.

He inhaled sharply and started investigating the wound. It was impossible to really see anything as the tattooed man's pants and boxers had got stuck in the wound. The fabric was wet of both blood, goo and sweat. Gerard felt like throwing up as he saw, and smelled, the awfulness.

He jolted back up on his feet and ran towards the kitchen area of the apartment. The apartment didn't have a first-aid kit so Gerard had to use his smarts and be creative. He scanned the dirty shelves in the kitchen and was happy to find a pair of scissors, an old cloth in a weird colour and a bottle which he thought had vodka in it. He then remembered that he had strips of bandages in the bathroom and went to get them.

Gerard rushed back to the unconscious boy and got down on his knees next to him. The pair of pants covering the man's legs looked nice but had to be removed. Gerard used the scissors and with a couple of snips he had removed the pants. He had believed that it would be enough but it wasn't.  
Still the nasty boxers covering the man's holiest parts was in the way for Gerard. The man looked at the boxers for a moment. He felt very awkward as he let the blades of the scissors shred, the last piece of clothing on the unconscious man's lower half, to pieces too.

Gerard felt his cheeks turning bright red. It was hard for him to look away as he saw something so taboo right in front of him. To at least show the stranger some respect he decided to tear a piece of the mattress off and place it over his sleeping member.

Then it was time to turn his full attention towards the wound. It was deep, like someone with incredible arm strength had slashed it with a sharp knife. Gerard shuddered. The vodka, cloth and bandages was just waiting to serve their purpose.

Gerard grabbed the vodka and the cloth, hands shaking badly. He turned the bottle and let a couple of drops of the alcohol soak into the cloth and then lowered it down to the wound. With easy strokes the cloth played over the opening of the wound. Gerard was happy that the man wasn't awake. The pain would be unbearable.

When Gerard figured that his work was done, at least for then, he wrapped the strips of bandages around the leg and fastened it with a safety pin. He then got up to his feet. All he could do was to wait. Maybe the man would recover, maybe he wouldn't.

Gerard paced the room with his arms resting on his back. The pale knuckles a contrast to his otherwise so flushed skin.

Back and forth. Back and forth. Like the pendulum of an antique clock.

The tattooed man laid on Gerard's filthy mattress, breathing heavily and occasionally moving his limbs. The white bandage wrapped around his leg looked quite professional and made Gerard feel so proud of himself. Mr. Tattoo was still unconscious but now showed signs of life. That both concerned and made Gerard happy. He felt like a healer and a devil.

Who was he to save someones life without asking for permission?

The hours passed and Gerard kept walking around the apartment like a caged animal, only taking a quick break to gnaw a corner off his newly purchased candy bar. Then a noise startled him. It sounded like a groan.

Gerard hurried to get to the mattress which the slightly younger man was lying on. His neck was stretched out so Gerard could see the scorpion on it. Agonized moans and sounds of complaint kept escaping his mouth.

Gerard crouched down and put a shaky hand on top of the noisy man's shoulder. The man's eyes then snapped open and for the first time Gerard could see the liveliest pair of hazel eyes in the world looking back at him.


	7. Frank Iero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The wounded man is talking and revealing his identity. He's Frank Iero, the rebel.

Gerard was practically paralysed when the tattooed man actually had woken up. He had believed that he was doomed because of the damage the wound had caused.

The tattooed man's hand swept over his leg to find out that Gerard had wrapped it in a tight bandage. His hazel eyes stared at Gerard with confusion lying like a fog over them.

"Who are you?" he hissed, his deep voice hoarse and thick. Gerard got out of his paralysed state and opened his mouth to answer the wounded man.  
"I'm Gerard." Gerard answered. Your guardian angel, he thought but didn't actually say out loud.

The wounded man groaned. Gerard figured that it was because of his leg. Sweat poured from the stranger's pores and his jaw was tightly clenched. He calmed down after a while though and sunk back to the mattress in silence. The pain seemed to come in waves.

"Why did you do this? Why save me?" the wounded man grunted and gestured to his leg. Gerard didn't know what to reply because he simply had no idea. Those questions were something he really had to ask himself. He grasped the words that popped up in his mind first and put them to life.

"Because something in me told me to," Gerard said and it was the honest answer. The stranger nodded and let his head rest against the dirty mattress. He had a scary smile on his lips. Gerard was surprised that the smile looked so real. He had never succeeded with copying a smile so authentic.

"Who did that to your leg?" Gerard asked when he couldn't hold back his curiosity anymore. The stranger's smile grew wider and he propped himself up on an elbow, putting his weight on his arm. "The scared kids who can't accept a rebel like me," he said calmly and let another smile be worn on his chapped lips.

The flood of questions Gerard wanted to ask was never-ending but he knew that he had to pace himself. The stranger would have lots of time to answer his questions.

"A rebel?" Gerard asked and leaned so much towards the stranger so that their faces was just inches apart. The stranger raised his perfectly sculpted dark eyebrows in surprise.

"You don't know who I am?" he asked amusedly. Gerard now felt like the joke was on him and he felt uncomfortable. He shook his head as a reply.

"Frank. Frank Iero." the stranger said.

Something clicked at the sound of the stranger's name and he could remember hearing about him. Frank Iero, the man who had decided not to die like everyone else. Before the day he turned thirty he simply killed himself and was reborn. The rumour said that Frank had been around even before the curse of misery was laid on earth by 'God'.

"Why do you want to live on this bad planet? Why haven't you just waited to accept the reward of letting your soul rest?" Gerard blurted out.

Frank looked at Gerard, his eyes now warm and kind.

"Let me ask you a counter-question. Why let yourself fall into oblivion?" he asked and smirked. Gerard shrugged.

"Life is a beautiful thing I don't want to throw away," Frank said and put an end to the discussion as he closed his eyes. Gerard kept asking Frank questions but he was either sleeping or simply ignoring him.


	8. Bathtub

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gerard needs to sleep but he can't trust Frank.

The day had turned to night but Gerard wouldn't let himself sleep.

One reason for that was that he didn't trust Frank. The tattooed and pierced man could be pretending to be asleep while he actually was waiting for Gerard to close his eyes so that he could kill him.

Another reason why Gerard was awake was because Frank was lying on the only mattress in the apartment. The mattress was disgusting in every way but he was used to sleeping on it. You shouldn't have to break your habits, Gerard thought.  
He liked to have order and routines.

Gerard sat cross-legged, hands resting on the dark wooden floor behind his back, and stared at the man called Frank Iero.

Frank laid flat out on his back, his head resting on a scruffy pillow with almost no feathers left as stuffing.

Frank's black and blond hair made him look quite similar to a skunk. Gerard found his choice of hair colour and style interesting.

Gerard's eyes then landed on the lying man's lower body and he grimaced at the sight. Frank did not have any clothes on, waist down. To at least give him some cover Gerard had torn a piece of the mattress off and put it over Frank's package. It looked hilarious and utterly weird.

The bandage on the man's leg had started to get spots of red on it. The wound had apparantly started to bleed again. Gerard didn't know what he was supposed to do about it but he decided that he would really try to fix Frank's leg.

Several hours had passed since Frank had fallen asleep and Gerard desperately wanted him to wake up. He had so many questions to ask Iero.

The biggest question was if he really had lived before the cloud, known as God, had sucked happiness out of the world. If so, had Frank really experienced the feeling of being happy?

Gerard wanted to get a description about the feeling - with many details.

Another hour passed and Frank still didn't wake up. Gerard's eyelids got heavier and heavier to the point where it was almost impossible for him to keep them up. He stretched his arms into the air and yawned.

Gerard was tired but too afraid of getting a knife through his heart in his sleep to dare to close his eyes. Then the drowsy man got an excellent idea, he could lock himself up in the bathroom and sleep in the bathtub!

He immediately stood up and walked over to the bathroom. Before entering it he made sure that the front door was locked to make sure that Frank had nowhere to run. Not that Gerard thought he would be running anywhere with that leg but he still wanted to be on the safe side.

Then Gerard entered the bathroom and locked the door behind him. The bathtub had different types of stains in it. Red, brown and black ones.  
Lots of dark strands of hair also laid on the bottom of it.

Gerard wasn't too keen on lying in it but he was too tired to find a better place. He crawled into it and closed his eyes.

The bathtub was nowhere near as comfortable as the mattress. By a miracle he managed to fall asleep though.

He wouldn't wake up until several hours later.


	9. Deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank makes a deal with Gerard to make him go and buy medicine for him.

Gerard woke up by something wet that dripped down his face. A liquid, for sure. He opened his green eyes only to stare right into the tap of the bathtub.

Just as his eyes opened a drop started to form on the tap. It vibrated against the metal until it fell down and landed in Gerard's right eye. "Shit!" he swore and waved his long limbs in the air.

Gerard quickly got out of the bathtub, almost ripping down a shower curtain in his eagerness to get out. Suddenly his ears caught a sound. He could hear cries.

"Gerard! Gerard!" a dark voice cried. Gerard remembered that Frank laid in the other room. Maybe he had had to wait for a long time? Maybe he was in pain?

Gerard unlocked the bathroom door and rushed to get to Frank. The tattooed man laid right where Gerard had left him, on the shabby mattress. Frank was panting and his face was glossy from the sweat coming out of his opened pores.

"Don't scream!" Gerard scolded as he ran into the room. It was highly dangerous to make loud noises when the street was right outside the window. People could hear that something was going on and get attracted by the screams.

Frank immediately bit his lip and managed to shut up. Gerard calmed down and his eyes saw that the bandage on Frank's leg was in bad condition. It was more red than white now.

Gerard nodded towards the lying man's leg. "Can I take a look at it?" he asked.

"Sure. Knock yourself out," Frank grunted and let his head fall back onto the flat pillow on the mattress.

Gerard knelt down beside the pierced and tattooed man and removed the safety pin holding the strips of bandage together. As soon as the metal had vanished, the strips fell apart too. The wound was now fully visible.

Gerard felt like throwing up when he saw the wound. It looked worse than the last time he looked at it. Blood was seeping out of it and it smelled like millions of rotten fish. Heat radiated from the wound and the flesh around it was bubbling. It was so clear that it was infected.

"Is it bad?" Frank breathed and moaned.

"No, not really," Gerard lied. Frank propped himself up on one elbow and looked at the wound himself. It looked like he was about to faint.

"Fuck! Do you have medicine or something?" Frank asked with panic in his eyes. Gerard thought about his empty shelves.

"No," he answered shortly. Frank groaned and slammed his head against the pillow.

"Go get some for me then! We need a new bandage, a liquid to clean the wound with, painkillers and antibiotics for the infection," Frank ordered. Gerard looked at him like he was a creature from Mars. It was quite gutsy to demand such things from a stranger.

"Does it look like I'm made of money? That will cost me a fortune!" Gerard yapped. Buying medicine, which was highly requested but very uncommon, was more expensive than buying houses.

Frank seemed to be thinking for a while before he propped himself up once again. His hazel eyes looked directly into Gerard's green ones.

"I'll pay you back in knowledge. I will answer every question you have about me and death," Frank promised.

Gerard inhaled sharply.

"Fine. I'll just grab my coat, then I'm going."


	10. Insects

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gerard shows Frank the new medical supplies and clens his wound again.

Frank looked relieved when Gerard came back from the pharmacy. His wound was fully exposed and the tattooed man was afraid that bugs and flies would get attracted by the smell from the oozing flesh of the wound and crawl into it.

"Did you grab a coffee or something on your way back? I think I've been waiting for an eternity," Frank whined.

Gerard fished a plastic bag out of the inner pocket of his long coat and waved it in the air. "I had to take a longer way home to avoid the most crowded streets," Gerard said coldly. He kicked his shoes off and they landed a few feet away with a soft sound.

Frank snorted loudly. "Come and show me what you got now," he ordered. Gerard grabbed the plastic bag with the things in it and sat down next to the mattress which Frank laid on.

Frank's eyes followed Gerard's hands every movement as he took the things out of the bag. First the antibiotics which Gerard placed on the ground next to Frank.

"I'll get you some water to swallow the pills with later," Gerard explained and received a slight nod from the wounded man.

The next thing Gerard got out of the rustling plastic bag was a package of small white painkillers. Frank looked very delighted by the vision of them.

Gerard licked his lips. "I kind of realised that I wouldn't be able to afford everything you wanted from the pharmacy," he said slowly. Frank grimaced and stared at Gerard.

"Which means?" Frank asked and scratched his arm absent-mindedly.

"I figured that I could use vodka and water to clean the wound with and I bought this thing to wrap around your leg instead of the bandage," Gerard rambled and took the last thing out of the bag. It was a table cloth with a bright pink floral print.

Frank looked simply shocked. "Really? Really, man?" he snarled with disgust in his voice.

Gerard refused to say a word. Silence was more effective.

"I could have understood if you had to buy a damn table cloth because you ran out of money but did you have to rub it in my face by buying a pink one?" Frank growled and there seemed to be no stop to the constant flow of bad words escaping his pink lips.

"I thought you liked bright colours," Gerard hummed innocently. The halo practically shone above his head. Frank cursed one last time, spit fleeing from his mouth and flying through the air.

It had actually been Gerard's intention to piss Frank off. He wanted to somehow show that he was in charge.

After Frank had managed to calm himself down Gerard walked to the kitchen and grabbed a glass. He filled it with water and returned to the open place in the middle of the apartment where Frank laid.

He put the glass of water down next to Frank and helped him to get the right amount of pills. Frank greedily swallowed them and seemed to be a lot less moody as he did.

"Are you willing to answer my questions now?" Gerard said and removed the packages of pills. He didn't want Frank to overdose any of them.

Frank looked at Gerard with dull eyes. "Aren't you going to clean my leg first?"

Gerard sighed. He really didn't want to deal with the bad wound but knew that he had to.

He walked into the kitchen again to grab the vodka and the same cloth he had used before to clean the wound with. As he was there he put away the packages of pills on a shelf.

When Gerard returned Frank was waiting for him with his arms crossed over his chest. "Please, hurry up," he whispered.

Gerard didn't waste any time as he crouched down and poured vodka on the cloth. He then put it on the wound. Frank was startled by the pain and screamed out loud for all he was worth. His legs also kicked and hit Gerard's side.

"Fuck! Get yourself together and stick through the pain!" Gerard growled . Frank yapped for air and dug his hands into the soft mattress. The pierced and tattooed man gave Gerard a nod to say that it was OK for him to continue.

Gerard quickly cleaned the wound. Frank was during the whole time biting his lip and clenching his jaw.

Gerard wrapped the pink table cloth around Frank's leg and fastened it with a safety pin. "I'm done," he then said coolly.

Frank was trying to catch his breath and his face was distorted into an ugly grimace.

Gerard gave the man a few minutes to recover before he started to talk to him again.

"I have questions you have promised to answer," Gerard said slowly. Frank stared at Gerard with his hazel eyes.

"What do you want to know?"


	11. Frank's Life 1/2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First part of the story about Frank's life.

"I have questions you have promised to answer," Gerard said slowly. Frank stared at Gerard with his hazel eyes.

"What do you want to know?"

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Everything. Tell me about your life and how happiness felt," Gerard decided to answer. He was very curious to finally hear how life had been once upon a time. Frank licked his dry lips as he got ready to speak.  
 _  
"I was born October 31th 1881 in New Jersey, screaming and covered in blood like all infants are. My first years of living me and my parents lived in a big farm which we were running. Mum milked the cows, made cheese, took care of the animals, sew clothes out of pieces of fabric and leather and spread seeds onto our big cropland. Dad took care of the heavier things like carrying big sacks of hay for the animals. He also harvested the crops in the fall and drove them in a wagon which our kindest horse Patsy pulled._

 _Dad sold the crops at a big annual market in the city closest to us. It took him four days to drive the wagon to the city and back so it was always a happy occasion when he got home.  
He often brought me a small brown paper bunt filled with sweets which I so happily sucked on._

 _The amount of money we got there at the market was practically what we could spend and had to economise with the following year.  
As you probably can understand that kind of life didn't fill our wallets but we were happy._

 _Me, mum and dad could manage to survive by making most of the things we ate and wore. We couldn't afford anything else though and that meant that I couldn't go to school like some of the other children did.  
No one thought it was necessary as they all thought that I was going to grow up to be a farmer just like my parents. Then all I had to learn was right where I lived and not in some classroom._

 _You asked about happiness? It's hard to describe for a person that has never had the privilege to feel it._

 _Have you ever seen a stream so bubbly and full of life that you could practically hear the water speak? That's how it feels like in your body. Feverishly hot and everything seems to fall into place for a brief moment.  
Happiness is the feeling of safety and love._

 _Laughter is another thing I adored. It's the way your soul sings._

 _1890, when I was nine something happened which rocked my safe world filled with routines. Mum was about to deliver another baby since she had gotten pregnant again but died. The baby died too._

 _Dad and I couldn't keep the farm running without her. She had just been too important and dad was so sad about losing her that he couldn't work as hard. Our source of money was cut and we didn't know what to do._

 _Dad eventually sold our farm and we were forced to move to the city where the jobs were. Because of the industrial revolution work in big factories was basically everything the society could offer you. Urbanisation had forced most of the people to move towards the cities and the places were overpopulated._

 _We moved to a tiny apartment in the middle of the city and dad started working in a factory which was producing weapons. He stood ten hours every day and watched the machines to make sure that everything was OK._

 _My world was turned upside down. Now the springs weren't about sticking seeds into soil. Now the summers weren't about picking berries. Now the falls weren't about harvesting crops. Now the winters weren't about getting firewoods to feed the warming fire with.  
Now we simply had to work in our grey environment to survive every day of the year._

 _Even if I was a young boy, far too young to work, I had to get a job. I started delivering newspaper on rich people's doorsteps for a couple of coins every week. I also took the job of helping a local butcher out in his shop._

 _Our money still didn't seem to be enough and we had a hard time getting food on the table. I couldn't take another job and my dad certainly couldn't either._

 _It was kind of an evil spiral since we couldn't afford sending me to a school and without education I wouldn't be able to get a good job._

 _That was until I fell in love with a rich man's daughter. One day when I was sixteen years old I ran to deliver a newspaper to a big house in the outer corner of the city. Even if it was very early in the day she stood outside and watched me come running with the paper in my hand._

 _Anna-Belle. She was such a beautiful woman and I couldn't help but fall in love with her. I could literally drown in her mysterious eyes and the smell of her honey hair still haunts me._

 _Anna-Belle and I met every morning and soon she started falling for me too but it was a forbidden and dangerous romance. Her rich and powerful father would never let his pretty little daughter be together with a stray like me.  
That didn't scare us though and our love grew stronger._

 _One day Anna-Belle stole a great amount of money from her family and we, her and I, ran away together. Before leaving the city I made sure to leave enough money for my dad to get himself a better life._

 _Me and Anna-Belle ran to New York, the city where dreams came true. There we lived in peace until year 1900._

 _I was nineteen when the big cloud arrived and sucked happiness out of earth..."  
_


	12. Frank's Life - 2/2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Final part of the story about Frank's life.

Frank took a break from the story and stared at the ceiling with an empty and longing gaze.

Gerard could barely breathe since Frank's life had moved him so much. He needed to hear the rest of the story. "Don't stop talking!" Gerard ordered loudly.

Frank reluctantly obeyed his nosy nursing auxiliary.  
 _  
"There wasn't like a voice from above told us about the new rules, we just knew. Like the message had been shot into our DNA._

 _We knew that we had brought the misery upon ourselves and had to live for 30 years to prove us worthy of reaching a better place than earth._

 _In the beginning I was just like you. I was waiting for my 30th birthday to finally die._

 _My sweet Anna-Belle never was the same after the day that happiness left us. Before she used to be a light that shone so damn bright but after the arrival of the cloud she became depressed.  
Every day from sunrise to dawn she sat in an old beaten rocking chair and stared out a window. Anna-Belle had become a zombie._

 _Not even when I turned music on she reacted. Back in the days music would make her laugh and smile and dance around like a maniac in pure bliss._

 _I think her innocent little soul died that day because her being was built of laughter. When that was sucked out of her she had nothing left to run through her vessels._

 _I, who came from a rough background, knew that happiness only was temporary. Everything good has to have an end. I also knew that you are the king of your own life._

 _The years passed and I stayed with Anna-Belle and took care of her. Until there were only three days to my 30th birthday. Anna-Belle, who was a year younger than me, would have to take care of herself._

 _I'm ashamed to admit it but I wasn't really sad about leaving Anna-Belle. She was a corpse._

 _I ran down every street and screamed that my time was up, that I was about to finally die. If I had known what I know today I wouldn't have done that._

 _It was year 1911 when a gang of jealous kids beat me to death for bragging about my age._

 _Year 1914 I was reborn, this time in China as the baby of an extremely poor Chinese couple. Don't you think God is a Hindu? Yeah, because of the whole karma and reincarnation thing._

 _I mean, if you wait and are good you get to be a part of something bigger. The deep space where everything is perfect.  
If you don't wait your soul is forced to move to a brand new body._

 _I found my second body quite fascinating since it was so different from my previous one. I was for example much shorter than before!_

 _The thing with being reborn is that you have to learn everything from scratch but your memories from your past lives come in fragments. At the age of ten you can remember basically everything clearly.  
Before that it's just a confused blur._

 _Being reborn gave me time to think. Why did I want to die in the first place? I realised that I actually enjoyed living._

 _Just to mess with the big guy up there among the clouds I decided that I would never go without a fight._

 _1944, the day before the date of my death I killed myself, by piercing my heart with a knife, and let my soul search for a new body. It's kind of like a hobby for me, Gerard._

 _1950 I was brought to another body again. This time I was born in New York since practically every living person left on earth had travelled there. It took my soul six years to find a new body. I bet there was a big damn queue of restless souls waiting for babies to jump into up there._

 _I didn't like my third body. It was very skinny built and couldn't handle anything too physical. Hardcore sex and working out was never on my agenda._

 _1980 I killed myself again. This time I died a more spectacular death. I had worked several months for the perfect death trap. It was a thing which caused a kind of domino-effect as I pushed a button._

 _Balls rolled in channels and set off pendulums and so on... In the end there was one thing connected to a gun which pulled the trigger.  
In front of the gun I placed a chair. So I pushed the button, sat down on the chair and waited._

 _The last thing I heard was a loud 'bang'. I felt proud for pulling the thing off so nicely._

 _1985 my soul found this body, which I'm extremely thankful for. This is my favourite body so far.  
I might be a bit too short for my liking but everything else is quite perfect. Right? I know you think so or you would have covered my crotch up better._

 _That's kind of my story. I'm 20 years old now and rocking my fourth body. I don't plan on stopping the whole rebirth thing until I'm the last damn person standing."_

Gerard was left speechless by the end of Frank's story. The man lying on the mattress was absolutely insane.  
The weird thing was that Gerard found himself really liking how different Frank was.

"I'm sorry you had to experience some of those things," Gerard said slowly. Frank shrugged softly.  
"I bet you've been through a lot too, because that's life," he said cheerfully.

Gerard's head dropped. "I guess I haven't really lived."  
Frank furrowed his perfectly shaped dark eyebrows. "How long have you got left?" he then asked.

"Less than two months," Gerard answered.

"That's enough time. I'll teach you how to live," Frank said. Frank - the teacher


	13. Sex

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gerard discovers another feeling he has for Frank. Lust.

_"That's enough time. I'll teach you how to live," Frank said. Frank - the teacher._

Gerard couldn't look directly at Frank as a redness blossomed on his face. Seeing Frank as a teacher made dirty thoughts pop into his mind. He tried to push the thoughts away before they would affect him more physically.

"Really? I look forward to it," Gerard mumbled, his voice cracking ever so slightly. Frank didn't seem to notice the awkwardness in Gerard's voice though.

Was it day or night? Gerard couldn't tell. And in all honesty it didn't really matter.

The fires were burning and the sky was dark red, like always. Nothing really showed if it was 7 am or 7 pm. Gerard's eyes scanned the sky through the only window in his apartment. Ashes were flying through the air like they were some kind of birds, just without the whole living part.

"What do you miss the most from the past?" Gerard asked to get his mind on something else. Frank looked at him with a vicious sparkle in his enchanting hazel eyes.

"Aside from the laughs I have to say the sex," the tattooed man cooed.

"Oh..." Gerard breathed. Frank's answer didn't really take Gerard's mind off anything. Instead it only made him spin onto dirtier tracks.

"You know the feeling of making love with a woman? Sweet, isn't it? Imagine that but ten times stronger," Frank rambled dreamily. Gerard just wanted him to shut up. Mostly because he actually hadn't made love to anyone - ever, and because he wanted to experience that at least once.

Gerard only nodded. What else could he possibly do?

They were positioned like that for an eternity. Frank lying sprawled out on the mattress and Gerard sitting cross-legged next to him.

Until the moment Frank's eyelids fell and soft snores escaped his mouth. Gerard took this as his opportunity to examine the man properly.

He let his trembling hands stroke the rough sides of Frank's face to take his features in completely. Gerard stared at his relaxed lips, his slightly wrinkled and worried forehead and his thick long eyelashes.

Gerard was going to make sure to take advantage of having the beautiful man in his apartment, in one way or another.


	14. Strokes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gerard gets cocky and thinks about kissing Frank when he's sleeping.

Gerard let Frank's face go and gave his cheeks one last gentle stroke.

Frank's smooth cheeks were covered by a short layer of stubbly beard which Gerard couldn't seem to get enough of. It felt like electric jolts flew through his fingers as he ran his hands over the facial hair of his house-guest.  
It was a completely new sensation and Gerard couldn't deny the fact that he adored it.

Then Gerard turned his attention to Frank's lips. Those perfectly soft, pouty and light pink lips who practically begged for violation.

Gerard decided that he needed to at least touch them. Since Frank was sleeping he thought that the timing to do so was perfect.

He reached with his shaky right hand towards Frank's sleeping face and placed his index finger on the right corner of his mouth.  
Gerard started getting cocky and really confident about himself. Maybe he could take the chance and peck Frank's lips with his own?

Gerard was excited to get his first kiss ever even if the receiver wasn't awake to either return it or push him away. Gerard's eyes scanned Frank's face once again.

That was when he noticed that Frank had stopped snoring and that his mouth twitched. Gerard felt how his insides felt cold, like someone had forced him to eat a bucket of ice.

Gerard was afraid to even breathe. Had Frank felt how he touched him? Did Frank think that he was a creep?

"Are you awake?" Gerard asked gropingly. His words were apologizing for themselves as they left his dry lips. Gerard's forehead was hot, his chest tingled and he had goose pimples on his arms.  
What was causing that odd reaction? Sure, he was nervous and scared but there was also another feeling simmering underneath his skin.

Frank answered by nodding his head briefly and letting out a humming noise. His chest vibrated as he did so. Frank looked extremely pleased with himself as he let his eyes flutter open again.

Gerard couldn't look at them. He didn't want to reveal too much about what he was thinking. Frank couldn't know about his sinful thoughts.

"I'm sorry," Gerard apologised even if it wasn't completely honest. He wasn't sorry for doing it. He was only sorry that Frank woke up and found out about it. If he wouldn't have reacted, Gerard might have done quite a few things to his body.

The room turned silent for a while. The boys had nothing to say to each other.

Sounds from the street penetrated the walls of the apartment. The boys could hear people fighting, screaming and crying. None of them cared enough to find out about the source of the sounds though.  
As long as they weren't affected, everything was OK.

They lived in a bubble where no one could touch them. The locked doors served them as protection. At least for now.

"So," Frank started when the silence got unbearable, "do you have any goals you want to achieve in life?"

Gerard still felt a bit ashamed to talk to Frank. "Yeah..." he started but got cut off by Frank.  
"Something that won't take more than two months to do," Frank said.

Gerard thought about it. What did he want to do?

After awhile he found something to say.

"I want to do something that people will remember me for. Something outrageous, you know? Then I want to..." Gerard sighed quietly, "have sex."

Frank looked surprised. "What? You haven't...?"

Gerard shook his head sadly. "No."

Gerard was a very innocent man even if his mind was dirty. He had never done anything unholy. He had never done anything to upset anyone.  
That was about to change.

"You've been missing out on something," Frank said with an evil flicker in his hazel eyes. Gerard groaned and buried his head in his palms.

"I might not be able to go with you but I'm going to mentor you," Frank added. "Just do as I say."

Gerard furrowed his eyebrows. I'll do whatever you want me to do, he thought.


	15. Easy Peasy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gerard has to do one more thing for Frank.

Frank started to shift around, occasionally hissing softly. Something was troubling him.

"Is something wrong?" Gerard asked softly. Frank shot him a glare. A venomous glare.

"My leg is what's wrong. It fucking hurts like hell itself," Frank muttered and sunk his head back into the pillow and hissed through clenched teeth. The man was clearly in pain.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Gerard asked and furrowed his thick eyebrows. He was hoping to get an answer like 'you should kiss the pain away'. Sadly for him, that wasn't the case.

"Cut my leg off and spare me the pain," Frank whimpered. Sweat ran down his hot forehead.  
Gerard didn't know if the pain in Frank's leg was permanent or if it just came in waves like before. One thing which he knew for sure was that there was no way in hell that he could amputate a leg.  
He didn't possess the medical skills necessary to do anything like that. Hell, Gerard didn't even know how to clean a simple wound.

Frank would bleed to death if he even tried, for sure.

Gerard answered Frank in the only way he could. "I can't. Sorry."

Frank groaned, squeezed his eyes shut and hyperventilated as another wave of extreme discomfort and pain rolled over his body. It was close to unbearable.

Soon the pain seemed to get duller and Frank could collect himself from the sweating mess he had become.

"God..." Frank whispered and thoughtfully ran his hand over his face to wipe off some salty sweat. Could Frank possibly call Gerard God some day?

It was hard for Gerard to understand how quick his mind could turn from basically asexual to a sex craving machine in hours. He guessed that a small seed of sexual frustration had turned to a tree and made him crazy. Blinded by lust and a lifetime of moderation, all he wanted was that body on the mattress to squirm and surrender underneath him.

That Frank was a male didn't bother him the slightest. What did gender matter when the world was going under?

"Frank?" Gerard asked, his lips dry and his voice hoarse. The man with blond and black hair sighed.

"I'm hungry," he whined. The shelves in the apartment was empty. There was nothing to eat.

"I don't have anything to give you," Gerard explained hopelessly. Frank was starting to become moody again.

"Fucking buy something then!" he snarled, "You idiot..."

Gerard was a bit offended but at the same time turned on by how feisty Frank was. He couldn't tear his eyes off of the small wrinkles that appeared around Frank's nose as the tattooed man got angry.

"With imaginary money? I spent everything I had on buying medical supplies for you. Remember?" Gerard asked and crossed his arms over his bony chest. Frank growled as he was very upset and not liking the situation.

"I need food, now! Can't you go and get money from the bank or something?" Frank pleaded with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

It had been over a week since Gerard had taken out money from the bank, so it should be fine to get some more today. That was the system of New York's bank.  
Wait a week, get your name checked on a list and get your money. Easy peasy.

"Fuck. Fine! But you owe me so much for doing this," Gerard muttered and walked towards the front door where he put his shoes and his long coat on.  
He then had to walk outside to the place where misery was the winning word.


	16. Runner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gerard is off to the bank. Frank is waiting back home at the apartment.

The air was hot when Gerard raced down the streets to get to the bank. All because of the fires all over town which were magically burning every hour of every day.  
His feet plumped against the paving stones as he jogged.

He couldn't jog a long distance since his poor condition didn't allow that. Soon, Gerard slowed down. He was gasping for air but the slight lack of oxygen in it made his period of recovery much longer than usual.  
Gerard bent over, hugging his knees with cramping hands.

He wasn't built for running long distances. Not at all.  
Time passed and Gerard started feeling better. He wiped sweat off of his glistening forehead and continued his journey towards the bank.  
This time he didn't run. He figured that walking was the safest alternative since he would probably pass out if he took another running step.

Soon he could see the giant building with the letters B-A-N-K on it. He sighed with relief. He had made it. And he was still alive.

Gerard entered the building, pulling his hood up and hugging his coat closer to him to blend in among the people more. The bank was always crowded by the citizens of New York who craved money.  
Gerard placed himself in a long queue and waited. He made sure not to make noises or bump into anyone.

He wondered what Frank was doing back at his apartment. If he was in pain again.  
Maybe he had died?

Gerard shuddered. He actually liked the company of the grumpy little guy who crashed, not like he had a choice, on Gerard's mattress.

Soon Gerard was the first one in the line and stared into the face of a serious-looking woman. She was placed on the other side of a glass wall, looking at him through her big glasses. She spoke through a small hole in the glass wall. Slowly, like Gerard was some kind of an idiot.

"What do you want darling?" the voice bombinated through the hole.

"I'd like to get my money this week," Gerard explained while fiddling with the pocket of his coat.

"What's your name then?" she asked coolly.

"Gerard. Gerard Way."

She looked through her lists and made a small mark next to Gerard's name. "I see that you're almost 30. One month and 20 days left, eh? You better watch out," she said with a wink and handed Gerard a couple of notes.

Gerard looked around to make sure that no one was eyeing him before he stumbled out of the bank. Her words had made him paranoid.  
Was people out to get him? Did they want to kill him?

Her words echoes through his head over and over again. I see that you're almost 30. One month and 20 days left, eh? You better watch out.

Gerard quickly walked into an empty alley and looked at the notes he had gotten. Fifty dollars.  
It wasn't much since the price of groceries was extremely high.  
Hell, the price for an old loaf of bread was over seven dollars.

Gerard groaned but there was nothing he could do about it.

He hurried to get to the store to buy Frank some food, all of the time he kept looking over his shoulder.   
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	17. Teach Me How To Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gerard asks Frank to kiss him.

"Honey, I'm home," Gerard called out sarcastically as he unlocked and opened the door to his dusty apartment. His old black coat, which was so long that it went all the way down to his knees, was heavy because of the food he had hidden in its secret pockets on the inside.

Gerard had with his fifty dollars bought an old loaf of bread, two oranges, some packages of powder-soup, dried meat and a small sack of potatoes.  
He was not a champion in the kitchen but he could sure manage to at least make Frank something eatable. The weight of the food in the inner pocket was safe.  
They wouldn't starve.  
Well, at least they would survive another week.

"It took you hours," Frank grunted from where he was lying. He was immovable because of the huge wound stretching from his hip down to his knee. A wound which had been caused by a knife held by some jealous kid.

"You're not in the position where you can afford to bitch at me," Gerard snapped, slipping out of his shoes and strolling into the room in the middle of the apartment.  
Frank laid on the mattress, right where Gerard had left him.

Gerard walked over to him and unbuttoned his long and mysterious coat. He then hauled the food out of the pocket. Frank's eyes widened and his mouth hung slightly open.  
It was like the tiny man hadn't seen food before.

When the sight of the two oranges reached the lying man's eyes it got too much to take.  
"Give me that!" Frank snarled and threw his arm, closest to the newly purchased groceries on to the floor, towards the oranges.

Gerard had strategically placed the food slightly out of Frank's reach and watched the wounded man desperately trying to grab himself something to eat.  
He gulped, looking at the amusing sight before him.

Frank stopped after awhile, letting his haunted eyes meet Gerard's calm ones. "I want to eat. I need to eat," Frank murmured, a bit out of breath.  
The silence lingered like a blanket in the air.

"You have to do something for me first," Gerard said and licked his cracked and dry lips clean from dust and dirt. The silence in the air was gone and what took its place was disbelief.

"What?" the tattooed man asked agitatedly.

Gerard tasted the words before he let them spin out of his mouth. They tasted sweet.

"Teach me how to kiss properly," Gerard said. Frank furrowed his eyebrows, clearly very confused about what the man next to him was saying.

Gerard wanted to be with Frank, so bad. he couldn't contain himself. The want was greater than his common sense and the moral his mum had taught him once.

"Uhm, fine. Just move your lips against the other person's lips and..." Frank didn't get to say more before Gerard abruptly cut him off.

"Frank, I need you to show me how to do it."

The tattooed man looked shocked.  
And why wouldn't he be?   
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	18. Heated Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kiss turns out to be more heated than expected.

Frank's eyes darted over Gerard's face to see if there was a hint of something indicating that it was all a joke that he could read on it. It wasn't.  
Gerard was dead serious about the kiss.

He really wished for their lips to meet. Blending saliva. Exchanging moans.  
Gerard simply expected his first kiss to be like magic, fireworks and fairy dust.

Frank on the other hand wasn't that excited. He had never been with a man and was doubting the whole thing.

If he wasn't wounded he would have jumped through the window or climbed into the ventilation tube. Everything just to make sure that the kiss never would take place.

"I don't know about this," Frank mumbled warily, afraid of what Gerard's reaction would be.

Gerard had already set his mind on the kiss. It was going to happen, whether Frank liked it or not. He looked at the tattooed man's lips. Plump, pink and absolutely gorgeous. He wondered what his lip piercing would feel like.  
Hot or cold. Hard or soft.

A haze of lust covered Gerard's green eyes. Nothing in the world could deny him that moment. His moment.

"I can't learn if you don't teach me," Gerard whispered back hoarsely. Frank whimpered and closed his eyes, awaiting and dreading the moment that their lips would touch.

Gerard leaned over Frank, placing his hands firmly on the sides of the pierced and tattooed man's head. With a sigh Gerard lowered himself until his mouth was an inch away from Frank's face.

Frank was breathing loudly in an effort of calming himself down. He was upset and powerless.

Despite his kissing partner being terrified to death, Gerard found himself having a bubbly feeling in the bottom of his stomach.

He followed Frank's example and closed his eyes. Then he closed the gap between their lips.

Gerard felt a sharp pain in his nose and pulled back. His eyes fluttered open and he noticed that Frank had opened his too.  
Gerard had in his eagerness bumped into Frank's nose with his own one.  
He let his hand touch the skin underneath his nose to make sure that he wasn't bleeding then he leaned back in again, not wanting to ruin the moment.

The boys closed their eyes again and Gerard's lips collided with Frank's again. The second try went much better.  
Gerard made sure to tilt his head slightly to the left to avoid the cone, commonly known as Frank's nose.

Their lips stayed like that, immovable and awkward, for awhile. It was a matter of seconds but felt like an eternity according to Gerard.  
He enjoyed the sensation. Even the feeling of Frank's stubble brushing against his face was turning him on.

He tried to remember every kiss he had ever witnessed in his life. How they went. What they did.

Then he started moving his lips against Frank's and finally, got a response. Frank also moved his lips in the same rhythm as Gerard was doing it.

Gerard dug his fingertips into the sides of Frank's face and gave his soul through his lips. Moving them rapidly, occasionally nibbling softly at Frank's bottom lip.  
Frank sighed softly and surrendered.

Gerard was happy that it seemed like Frank had finally given in and started to appreciate what they were doing. It made it much easier for Gerard and gave him hope. Hope that they would do something way naughtier one day.  
Something kids aren't supposed to see.

Gerard noticed something wet poking his lips. Frank's tongue.  
Gerard couldn't remember seeing a couple kiss with their tongues before and therefore froze. He pulled away.

"What am I supposed to do?" he asked anxiously.

"Let me in," Frank hummed with his eyes still closed.

Gerard nodded softly even though Frank couldn't see it. He then lowered his head down for the third time that day and greeted Frank's lips with his own.

Frank grabbed a hold of tufts of Gerard's long dark hair and pulled him closer, slipping his nimble tongue into Gerard's mouth.  
Gerard was left dumbfounded as he didn't know what do to with his own tongue. So, he let it run along Frank's bottom lip.

Obviously he did something right as Frank grunted contentedly. Gerard let himself enjoy the kiss too. Feeling the tongue explore parts of the mouth he barely knew existed.

As suddenly as the tongue had found its way into Gerard's mouth it also disappeared. Gerard opened his eyes and pulled away from Frank. It felt like someone had snatched a lollipop from him and he did not like that feeling at all.

Frank's face was flushed and the long black hair on the top of his head was messy.

"That's how you kiss," he breathed. Gerard watched his lips as they moved. They were darker now and looked sore. Probably because of the kiss.

Gerard bit his lip and didn't know what to say. He didn't have a witty reply in store.

Instead he took an orange and laid on top of Frank's chest, gathered the rest of the food and walked into the kitchen. There he placed the groceries on shelves and sighed.  
The kiss hadn't extinguished the small flame of desire in Gerard's body, but only made it burst into a forest fire.

Gerard was tired and he needed to think.

He walked into the bathroom, locked the door and looked at the bathtub. He would have to sleep in it another night.   
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	19. Stiff Wood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gerard uses his smarts to make the bathtub a more comfortable bed.

When Gerard woke up his neck was stiff as a piece of wood. He cursed.  
Having to sleep in a bathtub wasn't really a top ten experience in any way.

He heaved himself out of the bathtub and looked at it. How could he make it comfortable? The only pillow and mattress in the place was placed underneath Frank and Gerard had no intentions on moving either the mattress or Frank anytime soon.

His eyes then looked at the awful shower curtain. It had blue, yellow and pink dots on it. So childish.

Wait...

The shower curtain!

Gerard's eyes widened and he easily ripped the ugly dotted thing off its rail. He then put it inside the bathtub and placed himself in it too. He had to admit that it felt a lot better than to just lay in the bathtub without any fabric protecting him from its roughness.

He had once again used his smarts to handle a tricky situation. The instinct for survival had clearly not been sucked out of humanity.

After that Gerard had taken care of and decorated the bathtub, his new bed, he walked out of the bathroom to check on Frank.

And there he laid on the mattress, the loyal little guy. Around him was the peel of the orange Frank had gotten before Gerard went to bed.  
It was scattered over the floor like orange flowers.

It was cold in the room and as Gerard stepped closer to Frank he noticed how the man was freezing. He was shaking, chattering his teeth and the hairs on his body stood in attention.

It was all quite understandable since Frank was wearing a t-shirt and, well, nothing else. Gerard had been forced to cut away his pants and boxers the first day to be able to take a good look at the wound.  
The only thing covering his body from the waist down was the pink tablecloth wrapped around his leg where the wound was and a piece of the mattress which covered his junk.  
Well, most of it anyways.

Gerard decided not to wake Frank up just yet. If he was cold and sleeping he wouldn't be in pain. It wasn't until the moment he woke up that it would be a big problem.

Gerard picked the peels of the orange up and threw them away.

Now all he could do was wait for Frank to wake up.   
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	20. Freezing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank is freezing and needs to use the bathroom.

It took another hour before Frank woke up. Gerard could hear that the man was aware of the cold room by the whimpers and groans which escaped his lips.  
The lips which recently had caressed Gerard's.

"Morning," Gerard muttered. Frank's head snapped to the side as he watched the tall man who stood with his hands shoved into the pockets of his dark blue jeans.  
Gerard was, other than the jeans, also wearing a t-shirt and a hoodie.

With that amount of fabric, the chilliness wasn't a problem. For Frank, who was practically naked, it was a bigger issue.

Frank had goose pimples all over his body and shook like an aspen leaf.

"I'm freezing," the pierced and tattooed man managed to say. It came out sounding very shaky because of the chattering of his teeth.

Gerard raised his eyebrows. What was he supposed to do about it? Lit a fire in the middle of the living room? No way.

Sure, Gerard wanted to please Frank, but he wasn't a magician. He couldn't just magically turn the heat on in the apartment or pull blankets out of his ass.

"Frank, you'll survive," Gerard said coolly. One bad thing which came out of the situation with Frank's frozen state was that Gerard couldn't kiss him.  
Frank's mouth didn't look like it had any control of itself as Gerard could hear the sound of Frank's teeth clattering against each other. His lips were also blue and his face was more pale than usual.

Frank groaned. "Please, can you at least cover me with that coat of yours?"

Gerard knew that Frank meant his knee-long coat which he always wore outside. He hesitated.

The coat was the most valuable thing he owned. It was made of angora wool and was soft and smooth like the cheek of a newborn baby.  
He couldn't really trust Frank with it. What if his wound bled through the pink table cloth wrapped around it? Cleaning blood stains isn't an easy task.

"Please?" Frank pleaded and formed his now blue lips into a pout. His eyes were irresistible and Gerard could feel his insides melting away.

"Fine! I'll get it!" Gerard growled and threw his hands up in defeat. The puppy eyes had won, again.

Gerard stomped to the hallway and grabbed the coat, then stomped back to Frank again. "Here," he muttered and placed the coat like a blanket over Frank's tiny shaking carcass.  
The coat worked as a cover for Frank. Since Frank was much shorter than Gerard, he was covered from his neck to his toes.

"Thanks," Frank whispered. He already looked like he was feeling better.

Gerard shook his head and placed himself on his knees next to Frank's head. He then lowered himself down and placed a tender kiss on Frank's cheek.  
The wounded man didn't object. He wasn't in a position to do so.

Gerard got up to his feet again and took a step over Frank's now covered body. He stopped right before the window and looked outside.

Fires burning. A red sky. Small sparks falling like rain over the streets. People running around. Smashing windows. Hugging. Crying.

It was chaos. Total chaos. Gerard would only have to spend one month and nineteen days more living in it.

But Frank and Gerard were safe in the apartment. Their safe haven.

Gerard didn't know for how long he had been standing, looking out the window, before Frank snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Gerard?" he asked slowly.

"Yeah?"

"I have to use the bathroom."   
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	21. Nature Calling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nature is calling for Frank.

"You need to use the bathroom?" Gerard echoed to be sure that he had heard the right thing. Frank nodded briefly.

It came like a slap in the face for Gerard. Of course he knew that Frank was a human and had needs. He also knew that nature would be calling. Frank had been there for a couple of days without using a toilet or, well, peeing on the mattress.  
Still it came like a shock.

Frank hadn't moved an inch from where Gerard had put him during the time they had spent in the apartment. How the hell were they supposed to make it all the way to the bathroom and back with Frank's bad leg?

"Do you think you can put any weight on your leg?" Gerard asked, gesturing towards Frank's southern regions. Frank gulped.

"I don't know."

Let's find out, Gerard thought and removed his coat which worked as a calorific blanket for Frank. That was when Gerard met another obstacle.  
If he managed to get Frank to stand upright the piece of the mattress which covered Frank's junk would fall off.

Gerard didn't really know how to bring it up. He was afraid that the subject was a bit intimate and sensitive.  
"Frank? If you stand up you will be quite... exposed," Gerard mumbled and pointed towards the tattooed man's lower body. Frank raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Is that a problem? Just don't look and it will be fine," he said and waved the thought away.

Gerard had troubles forgetting about it though. Even if the situation wasn't sexually arousing it still was a big deal for him to catch a glimpse of Frank's penis.

"Are you sure?" Gerard asked, trying desperately to not sound like a horny creep.

"Yeah. I'm more afraid of shitting myself than letting another man see my dick," Frank confessed and looked tormented. Gerard knew that they should probably hurry up before an accident happened.

Gerard grabbed both of Frank's hands and pulled to get Frank into a standing position. Frank tried to help but it was hard because of his bad leg.  
Gerard pulled so hard that he thought that his rectum was about to pop out of its home.  
After a while of intense struggling, he managed to get Frank to stand upright.

The piece of mattress covering Frank's junk had fallen off and his member took a small breather. Gerard had to force himself not to stare at it.  
Sometimes he would glance downstairs and feel a bit excited.

Frank was standing on one leg, holding the injured one a couple of inches above the floor. Gerard stood right next to Frank and held onto his shoulders tightly. He didn't want Frank to fall over just so that he would have to repeat the tough procedure of getting him up.

"Can you walk? Or at least put some weight on your leg?" Gerard asked. It would make their small walk a thousand times easier. Frank shook his head.

"I haven't tried but I wouldn't bet any money on it," he muttered.

Gerard nodded towards Frank. A gesture that said that he should go on and try. Frank slowly lowered his leg to the floor. Bit by bit, ever so slowly.  
When the foot collided with the floor and weight was put on the leg, Frank's eyes rolled back and he gasped.

The foot went up quickly again. It was obvious to Gerard that Frank couldn't walk at all. He gave the tattooed man a couple of minutes to get himself together.

They then started walking. Frank put weight on Gerard's side and jumped on one leg towards the bathroom.

When they both stood by the toilet the mood turned awkward. Frank sat down on it and his cheeks turned red.  
"Look away," he ordered and Gerard obeyed.

He turned around and took a few steps out of the bathroom as Frank took care of his business. Then Frank called Gerard's name and they began their journey back to the mattress.

Gerard helped Frank to lay down again and put the coat over his little body.

"Thank you," Frank whispered and his eyes told Gerard that he was honestly grateful. Gerard felt proud of himself for taking such good care of the wounded man.

"It's my job to take care of you, so shut up and let me take a look at that leg of yours," Gerard cooed softly. It was time to clean the awfulness again.


	22. Healing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank's leg is starting to heal.

Gerard removed a part of the coat from Frank's body to reveal the wounded leg. The pink table cloth wrapped around it served them as a bandage.  
It was primitive, but all they could afford at the moment.

Gerard was afraid to remove the table cloth again. The last time he had looked at the wound it had been a bloody mess. The sight of the oozing and bubbling flesh was printed into his retinas and he did not wish to experience that view again.  
He decided to do some less repulsive things first, before he jumped into the wound.

So Gerard walked into the kitchen and grabbed the vodka, painkillers, antibiotics, a cloth and a glass of water. That was everything he needed and had access to.  
Gerard couldn't imagine the things Frank went through. Being severely wounded and trapped in a stranger's apartment and to top it off the stranger was sexually attracted to him. That had to be stressful.

Gerard brushed the thoughts off and went back to Frank's side, where he felt at home.

"I thought you might need some pills before I start cleaning that disgusting wound of yours," Gerard hummed and placed the glass of water, two painkillers and one pill from the package of antibiotics next to the lying man's head.

Frank greedily placed the pills on his tongue, grabbed the water and chugged it down quickly.

"That was exactly what I needed," Frank said thankfully. Gerard gave the pills a couple of minutes to start working before he knelt down next to Frank's leg and started removing the pink tablecloth with the tacky floral print splattered all over it.

Gerard was amazed by what he saw as he unwrapped the leg like a present.

"Frank, I think you're healing," Gerard whispered softly. It was the truth. The sides of the wound were closing in and making the meaty gap smaller because of the new skin that was trying to repair it.  
The cut didn't even look as deep and the smell wasn't too unpleasant.

Gerard was feeling both excited and sad. He was glad that Frank was healing and sad that he might leave as soon as he got a bit better.  
What would he do without Frank? Gerard would have nothing to do or anyone to talk to.

How had Gerard even survived before meeting Frank? He couldn't remember. It wasn't important.

"Really?" Frank asked and sounded relieved.

"Yes. It looks so much better."

Gerard wiped the wound with a cloth drenched in vodka. Frank hissed and squeezed his eyes shut but it wasn't his first time and he was doing great with his efforts on not trying to scream.  
Then Gerard turned the pink table cloth so that the unused side was facing the wound. He then fastened the whole thing with a safety pin.

"All done," Gerard breathed and raked his slender fingers through his tangled dark hair. Frank sighed softly and Gerard could see his muscles becoming less stiff and more relaxed.  
"You might be able to walk in a couple of weeks," Gerard stated, not so happy about that fact.

"Good," the pierced man said shortly. Gerard felt a sting of sadness in his chest. Did Frank want to leave that badly? Gerard couldn't hide the disappointment painted all over his face.

Frank looked at him and noticed the change of Gerard's mood.  
"I didn't mean to be rude! It's just that I have to get better soon, before you pass away. Or I'll be left to die in here like a beetle on its back."

Gerard nodded and felt much better knowing that. He then decided to ask something which had been nagging his brain for a long time.  
"Frank, what did Anna-Belle look like?" he asked curiously.

Frank closed his eyes. Anna-Belle had been the love of his life. Then happiness had been sucked out of the world and misery got the job of acting like a choking blanket to all living people.  
Anna-Belle had become a breathing corpse, unable to do anything.

She was a touchy subject.   
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	23. Anna-Belle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna-Belle, the love of Frank's life.

"She was beautiful," Frank started and let air enter his nostrils, "Honey blond hair that was long and smooth, deep brown eyes and a smile that would drive you insane."

Gerard nodded and bit his lip. He wasn't like Anna-Belle in any way. His hair wasn't long nor blond. His hair was a dark mess that just happened to live on top of his head.  
A greasy dark mess. On the other hand so was Frank's hair. It wasn't like the two men felt the need of taking good care of their personal hygiene.

Anna-Belle had brown eyes which Gerard hadn't. That was another thing setting them apart.  
And Anna-Belle had a nice smile but Gerard hadn't been able to smile during his whole lifetime. Not like he didn't want to smile, he just simply couldn't.

He could never compete with such a perfect creature. Luckily, she was long gone.  
But Frank wasn't gone and Gerard wasn't gone, yet. They were together and that was the only thing Gerard had that was to his advantage.

"Did you love her?" Gerard asked hoarsely as his throat felt like it was made of sandpaper. He needed a drink but first he wanted to know what Frank had to say.  
It was important to him.

Frank's eyes scanned the room and his brain was ticking inside the walls of his skull. "Very much, yes."

Gerard bit his lip harder only to penetrate the skin with his teeth. The faint taste of iron spread in his mouth.

"Do you love her now?" Gerard asked nosily and licked the inside of his bottom lip where the skin was punctured. He quite enjoyed the taste of his own blood.

Frank sighed and scratched his head. "I guess. I don't think that you can ever stop loving a person if you once started to. But I didn't love the new person that Anna-Belle became. You can't possibly give so much love to an apathetic person who can't give you anything back."

Gerard nodded again. "Do you think you can find love again?" he then asked. It was the million dollar question and he hoped that Frank would give him the answer that he wanted.

Frank wrinkled his forehead as he thought about it. He then opened his mouth and answered coolly.  
"I don't know if people are able to love now. All we do are selfish actions and I don't think anyone is charitable enough to give love to another human being."

Gerard frowned. He didn't like that and he wanted to prove Frank love. He wasn't nigh and wanted to give every drop of love his lean body possessed to Frank. The problem was that he had no idea about what love was.

Was it the feeling when you hug your mom? The feeling when you win at poker? Gerard didn't know and that annoyed him.

"Never say never," Gerard mumbled to receive an amused look from Frank.

"You are right about that, Gerard. It's never too late."

Gerard was doubting that. He also wondered if Frank suspected that he was talking about them and their relationship. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't.

He had one month and nineteen days to prove that he was able to give Frank love. The question was if that amount of time was enough.  
Gerard wished that he had met Frank sooner.

If they had gotten more time it would have been a different situation. Now all gerard could hear was a clock faintly ticking away in his ears.  
Tick tock, tick tock.

Because his time was running out now.   
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	24. Thief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fourteen days has passed and Gerard catches the food-thief.

Fourteen days said hi and bye bye quickly, to Gerard's dismay. Now he only had one month and five tiny days left to live. Only 840 hours left to spend with Frank.  
That amount of time was nowhere near enough, he thought. Gerard had made himself a calendar on a piece of paper and every morning when he woke up and climbed out of the bathtub, he put a big X on it.  
For every X he drew his mood dropped.

Frank had done amazing progress during the two weeks that had passed. His wound was healing nicely and he didn't need the table cloth as a bandage anymore.  
The wound wasn't a meaty mess. On his leg was instead of the open flesh a dip in his leg covered by a pink veil. A big damn scar that reminded him of the pain he had been through.

Frank now could put weight on his leg. Hell, he could actually walk short distances even if he limped like a sailor with a wooden leg. The first time Frank had walked all by himself, without holding Gerard's arm, he had gazed over to Gerard and given him a grateful look.  
It had been a big moment for Gerard to finally know that he had made a difference and helped someone. At that moment he felt like a proud mother watching his kid do something amazing for the first time.

Gerard had moved the mattress closer to the wall so that Frank could get up all by himself by grabbing a broken radiator which hung on the wall. With the help of that radiator he then managed to get himself to stand up.

As Frank now could walk around freely at all times Gerard got some problems. One problem was that Frank had a habit of taking strolls into the kitchen in the middle of the night, when Gerard was asleep, to eat.  
Since their resources were very limited that was a huge problem. Gerard had a hard time getting the food to last for the two of them and Frank didn't make it easier by taking some of it.

To Frank's delight, Gerard had found a pair of loose black pants that fit Frank quite well. They were designed for kids but since Frank was short and skinny it worked for him.  
That way Frank didn't need to show his junk off anymore and it removed some of the sexual tension from Gerard's side.

One thing that surprised Gerard was the fact that Frank didn't leave. The tattooed man stayed inside the apartment, right by Gerard's side, like a loyal dog.

After the time Gerard had kissed Frank when he didn't want to, it would have been more understandable if the pierced and tattooed man had just fled when he got the opportunity. Something obiously told him to stay, though.

Even if Gerard wanted to, he couldn't keep Frank locked up anymore. Frank could easily unlock the front door or break a window and get out, but he didn't.

They hadn't kissed during the two weeks though. Gerard felt a bit scared to approach Frank since he grew stronger as the days passed.  
Because what if he got rejected? It would feel like a knife right through the heart.  
But the boys talked. Always. Mostly about the adventures Frank had been through since Gerard did not have that many interesting memories to share.

Sometimes they would sit next to each other and make a story up from scratch. That could keep them entertained for hours.

Gerard watched Frank as the tattooed man looked through the shelves in the kitchen. Frank hadn't noticed the pair of eyes watching him since he thought that Gerard was sleeping in the bathroom.  
It was in the middle of the night and Gerard had stayed awake, listening for sounds, to finally catch the little thief in action.

"Found anything yet?" Gerard asked coolly and crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned towards a wall. Frank jumped a foot into the air and looked terrified.  
"I can... I can explain," Frank started, his voice raised in panic. His hazel eyes were about to pop out of their sockets.

Gerard let his back rest against the cool wall and scratched his own arm softly. "You don't need to explain. I know that it was you who ate all of our food. Why would rats eat apples and a canned mackerel, eh?"

Frank looked sad and ashamed. His head hung low and the long hair on top of his head was in the way of his face.  
The blond sides on Frank's head had started to get longer and he needed to cut his hair.

"I'm so sorry," Frank whimpered and the corner of his lip twitched. It looked like the man was about to burst into tears.

"Don't be. But tomorrow you have to walk with me to the bank. If we're two, we will get more money to buy food with," Gerard said softly. The red lights coming from the fires outside the window danced over his face.  
It looked just like fire was licking his cheeks.

"Gerard, why aren't you angry with me?" Frank asked slowly, looking up towards Gerard's unreadable face.

Yes, why wasn't he angry? Probably because he was so fond of Frank. Gerard decided to answer Frank truthfully.

"Because I don't want you to leave," Gerard hummed and watched how Frank started moving towards him, slowly.

Frank used the shelves as support when he limped towards Gerard. One step. Two steps. Three steps. Four steps. Then he was there, right in front of Gerard. The man who had taken care of him when he was so vulnerable.  
The man who wanted to have him around for as long as he could.

Frank touched the front of Gerard's hoodie and placed himself on his toes to get taller. His eyes got to the same level as Gerard's and they stared at each other for a moment.  
Then Frank slowly leaned closer. His lips brushed against Gerard's.

Gerard let out a nervous gasp and at the same time Frank closed the gap between their lips. Frank backed away quickly. The kiss had only lasted for a second.  
It had been a brief peck that left Gerard speechless.

"Good night, see you tomorrow," Frank whispered and turned around to limp his way back to the mattress.

Gerard was frozen like a statue, unable to move. His heart was racing and it felt like a hammer went berserk inside of his chest.

That was the first time Frank had actually taken the initiative. What did it mean?   
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	25. Bad Smell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank and Gerard gets ready to leave the apartment together for the first time.

When Gerard woke up his body was twisted in awkward angles where he laid in the bathtub. His body ached badly.  
Gerard knew that he couldn't sleep in the bathtub forever. It was far too painful.

Gerard let a soft groan slip out of his mouth as he climbed out of the bathtub and stood in the middle of the stinking room on wobbly legs. His joints cracked and grated as he stretched and yawned.  
Then the man with long dark hair walked out of the bathroom and moved towards the kitchen.

"Morning!" Frank called as he sat on the mattress with his back leaning against the wall. It looked like he had been waiting for a long time.  
Frank didn't look like he had gotten much sleep since he had dark rings under his eyes and his body language was slouching.

"Morning," Gerard replied and rushed past Frank to get to the kitchen. As Gerard remembered the peck he had been given in the middle of the night, his cheeks turned pink and hot.

What Gerard was looking for in the kitchen was a piece of paper. A calendar. Gerard found it and looked at the small amount of days that were left until his death-day.  
He sighed and put another X on the calendar.

Only one month and four days left now, he though and felt sad.

His eyes found Frank's. Frank was hugging his knees with his arms and he too looked sad. The tattooed man knew very well that Gerard didn't have much time left.  
Frank himself could rock his body for ten more years before he'd either kill himself and get reborn or simply wait until his 30th birthday and pass away like everyone else.

Gerard let go of the marker he used to do the X's with and opened his mouth to speak.  
"We need to get to the bank now. The sooner we get going, the better," he said sternly. Frank pouted.

"Why?" he asked and hugged his knees tighter. Gerard rolled his eyes dramatically. Frank was so childish, but that was his charm.

"Because the trip will probably take all day because of your bad leg," Gerard explained to a nodding Frank.

Frank released the grip around his knees and started to get himself to stand up. He grabbed the sides of a radiator on the wall and with the help from the object managed to get up.

He then limped his way over to the hallway and looked at Gerard.

"I don't know if this is a good idea," Frank suddenly said. Gerard frowned.

"What made you change your mind?" Gerard snapped and put his hands on his sides.

"I'm afraid that those who sliced my leg like a pizza are still out there. I'm afraid of what will happen if they see us. I'm afraid of what they'll do to you," Frank mumbled and looked down upon his show-covered feet.

Gerard rushed to Frank's side and put a hand on his back. "Don't worry, Frank. They aren't going to see us," he said to comfortingly. That wasn't the truth though. Gerard had no idea of whether or not those guys were still in the area.

He gulped as he thought about what could possibly happen if they found Frank alive. They had probably thought that he was a dead man, for sure.  
And he would have been if Gerard hadn't helped him.

But Gerard and Frank still had to go to the bank. If they didn't have money they wouldn't have food to feed their stomachs with.  
It was vital that they got the money.

"They won't see you but they will see me. You have your coat to hide underneath. I have nothing but what I'm wearing," Frank said and let his hand slide over his chest.

Frank was wearing a black t-shirt, loose black pants and a pair of boots. He wasn't really invisible because of his blond and black hair either.

Gerard came up with an idea that would make Frank blend in among other people. He unzipped his hoodie and pushed it into the hold of Frank's trembling hands.

"Use my hoodie! Pull the hood up and it will probably cover at least some parts of your face," Gerard said excitedly.

Frank put his arms into the dark hoodie and pulled the hood up. It covered his hair and eyes and stopped right above the tip of his nose.  
The whole garment was a bit too big for Frank's tiny body. he had to roll the sleeves of the hoodie up a couple of times before it looked right on him.

Gerard liked that Frank was wearing something that was his. That gave him the feeling of that Frank was his property.

His little Frank.

"The hoodie smells like you," Frank stated after sniffing the fabric for a while.

"Really? I bet it smells like old sweat and mold then," Gerard hummed. Frank bit his bottom lip playfully.

"Yeah, pretty much."


	26. Odd Couple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank and Gerard jokes around. This is their journey to the bank.

It was difficult for Frank to stumble his way down the stairs. He looked equally odd as a blind man watching a silent movie when he took one hesitant step after the other downwards.

Gerard tried to help by grabbing the shorter man's arm as he often was about to fall over. Frank didn't appreciate that though.  
Instead he just slapped Gerard's hands away and frowned.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? I'm just trying to help!" Gerard snapped. His word echoed between the naked walls in the staircase.  
Frank groaned and rolled his eyes.

"I don't want any help from you! I feel like I'm a baby all over again. I can't do anything on my own," Frank mumbled. His mouth hung slightly open and he breathed heavily because of his lack of energy.

Gerard backed away a couple of steps and raised his arms into the air in defeat. He didn't want to get into a fight with the cranky tattooed man. Frank nodded as a gesture of appreciation and started making his way down the steps again, ever so slowly.  
His fingers were tightly wrapped around the rail and he carefully placed one foot after another onto the next step.

When Frank finally reached the end of the stair he was sweating like a pig, but he had a whole new kind of light in his eyes.  
"I did it," he said and his eyes twinkled from under the heavy hood of Gerard's hoodie.

Gerard followed him to the front door, holding it up like a true gentleman should. Frank exited the door and stopped outside to bow mockingly before Gerard, who only sighed.  
"You are the weirdest excuse of a human being I've ever seen," Gerard hummed jokingly to receive a playful slap on the arm by Frank.

"That didn't come from the right mouth," Frank replied and hugged Gerard's hoodie closer to his tiny body. Gerard wanted to kiss the air and cockiness right out of Frank's body.  
He couldn't though. If they were kissing in the middle of a street they wouldn't be giving the surroundings their full attention. And not being careful could lead to horrible consequences. Lethal consequences.

"The bank is that way," Gerard said and pointed to their right. Frank nodded and they started walking.

Frank walked alone without any help or support until his breathing got heavier and heavier and he turned into a shaking mess. It was almost physically painful for Gerard to watch the shorter man's tragic attempts of keeping a straight face and carrying on walking.  
They still had a long way to walk before they would reach the bank.

"Will you let me help you?" Gerard asked pleadingly. Frank wrinkled his forehead, thinking about Gerard's kind offer. He then nodded.

Gerard skipped to Frank's side and let his right arm snake its way around Frank's waist as support. Frank placed his left arm loosely around Gerard's neck and they were ready to go.

"Lean on me when you have to, okay?" Gerard said. Frank bit his lip, not answering.

"Frank?" Gerard said as he was waiting for an answer. Frank looked down at his feet and wasn't moving an inch. His bad leg shook involuntarily.

"I don't want to be a burden for you," he said after a moment of silence. Gerard groaned.

"You aren't! Silly boy," Gerard mumbled the last two words mostly for himself and shook his head.

After those words the boys finally started moving. After an hour Gerard could see the big building bank up. "There it is!" he almost screeched. Frank moved quicker as he now could see the goal in the horizon.

Gerard and Frank made an odd couple as they walked together as one. Occasionally people would pass them on the streets and give them weird looks.  
They didn't care as long as the people didn't carry knives.

Frank let out dozens of sighs as they reached the huge glass door where they entered the bank.  
"My leg may not be what it used to be, but I still made it," Frank said proudly. Gerard leaned closer to his company so that his mouth was brushing against Frank's fabric-covered ear.

"You're a champion, Frank. Just remember to hide your face and be quiet in here. We don't want anyone to find out that you're still alive."   
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	27. Danger Alarm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trip to the bank turns out to be potentially dangerous.

Frank and Gerard placed themselves in the quite small queue and patiently waited for their turn to get their money.  
Since it was still pretty early in the day, the bank wasn't too crowded.

Of course people were still clinging to the walls, lying on the floor and screaming into the air that they oh so desperately needed money. Sadly, they just had to wait.  
Many things in the world were seriously fucked up but at least the bank-system was fair.

Soon the boys stood right before the huge glass wall which separated the visitors from the workers.  
"Hey, we're here to get our money this week," Gerard mumbled through the hole in the glass wall which was placed there so that the 'customers' or 'client's would be able to communicate with the bank's staff.

A man with many scars from acne on his cheeks fiddled with the lists and didn't even look up to meet Gerard or Frank's eyes. That man obviously didn't know much about manners.  
Gerard frowned and a small wrinkle on the skin between his eyebrows appeared.

"What are your names then?" the scar-man asked with a montone voice. He sounded more like a robot than a human.

"I'm Gerard Way," Gerard said to the scar-man who nodded and checked his name on the list. He then got a bundle of notes which he quickly stuffed into the inner pocket of his long coat.

Then Frank leaned closer to the hole in the glass wall, his hood still covering most parts of his face.  
"And I'm Frank Iero," he whispered.

The scar-man's eyes shot up to look at the man standing before him. "Frank Iero?" he said way too loud.  
Gerard jumped and tugged at the sleeve of the hoodie Frank was wearing. An alarm had went off inside of him. It was getting dangerous. They had to get out, [b]fast[/b].

Frank ignored the panicked vibes coming from Gerard.  
"Yeah, that's my name and I want my money," he said sternly.

"Of course, it's just that the word on the street said that you were dead and therefore we took your name off our list. I'll write it back in again though," scar-man said and handed Frank his bundle of notes too.

Frank nodded and finally turned around to limp his way out of the bank. Gerard followed him like a worried tail.  
People had already started grouping up, whispering, staring and pointing at Frank as he left the building.

The word of Frank's 'resurrected' body would spread like the plague all over New York.

The boys hurried to the store where they bought bread, butter, milk, dried fruit and a whole fish. Frank had gotten the idea of getting it even if they didn't have a stove.  
He just figured that they could use the fires spread all over town as a cooking device and grill the fish over the flames.

With the groceries hidden underneath their outerwear they hurried back to the apartment. Or, as fast as you can move with a man who is barely able to walk.

To Gerard's relief the streets weren't crowded and he hadn't seen anyone who looked suspicious. Maybe they were safe after all?

Gerard felt like he had to talk to Frank as soon as they stepped into the staircase leading to the apartment.  
"What was that about in the bank, Frank? You have to be more careful," Gerard snapped.

Frank groaned and waved Gerard's words away with his hands. "I can't hide forever. What's the fun with that?"

Gerard didn't answer. He was too pissed off to even do so.  
Frank should be more careful with his life since Gerard had worked so hard on trying to save it.

When they entered the front door, Gerard threw his coat off and let the loaf of bread roll out on the floor. He didn't care.  
He just wanted to be alone and calm himself down.

He stormed into the bathroom and locked it from the inside before he sat down on the toilet. Then the upset man let his face be buried in the palms of his dirty hands.


	28. Best Apology Ever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank thanks Gerard for being a good host. ** Explicit contents**

Gerard sat on the toilet with his hand buried in his hands a long time. He knew that Frank was waiting right outside though since he heard him shift his weight and leaning towards the door.  
Gerard wasn't really angry anymore, but he still didn't want to leave the bathroom since Frank was standing there.

He still wanted the Frank so badly. That's why it hurt so much when Frank wasn't careful about his life. It was like Frank didn't care about Gerard's feelings.  
How selfish.

"Gerard, I'm sorry. Can you let me in?" Frank asked through the key-hole. Gerard let his head rest against the cool wall behind him.  
He hadn't cried so it wasn't like he was trying to hide a pair of blood-shot and puffy eyes from Frank. Gerard just didn't see what he would gain from letting Frank in.

Pitied looks? Detached apologies? He didn't want to hear it if it wasn't from the heart.

"No," Gerard answered with a weak voice. He could hear Frank groaning and Gerard imagined that he probably ran his fingers through his hair.

"Can we at least talk?" Frank asked. That felt alright for Gerard.  
Small 'drips' and 'drops' escaped the tap of the sink as small drops of water fled from it and hit the ceramic bowl. Gerard would have to fix that some day, if he only knew how to do it.

"I don't have anything to say," Gerard said and shrugged even if Frank couldn't see the things he were doing. The sound of an exhale, Frank's long exhale, vibrated to reach all the way to Gerard's eardrum.

"Then just listen to what I have to say," Frank started.

"I'm sorry that I didn't try to be more quiet in the bank. I really am. If I knew how you would react I would've never done it, I swear.  
But you told me that you wanted to make a difference in this world? That's not possible if all we do is hide, right?"

Frank's words made sense to Gerard, but it wasn't a clear apology though and left Gerard feeling confused. Frank still didn't seem to get how afraid Gerard was of losing him.  
"You don't know how that made me feel. What if your attackers were in there? What if they had tried to killed you again, and succeeded?" Gerard asked desperately and let his hands fall to his sides as he sat on the toilet.

The floor creaked as Frank shifted his weight once again. Gerard focused on his own breathing rhythm, trying to steady it.

"No, I don't know how that made you feel," Frank said, "but only because you never tell me what you're really thinking."

Gerard opened his mouth to tell Frank exactly how he felt.  
"Frank, I'm so scared that you will die before me. That's because I don't know how I would even find the energy to get up in the mornings if I didn't have you right in the next room."

It was such a weird thing to say to a person you met a couple of weeks ago, but that's what Gerard felt. Frank was the only human he had really connected with, aside from his mum.  
Was it too much to ask for that Gerard wanted Frank to try to stay alive for at least the next month and four days?

"Let me in," Frank said. It was an order.

Gerard stood up on shaking legs. His heart was beating so loudly that he was afraid that someone on the other side of the town would hear it. Thump, thump, thump.   
He unlocked the door and slowly let it slide open.

Gerard didn't have time to think or react before he was pushed up against a bathroom wall. Slammed and trapped like a caged animal. A pair of large hands were firmly placed on his sides and a pair of lips had collided with his.  
Gerard's back was pressed against the moldy wall but he didn't care about the disgusting surroundings when he had Frank glued to his lips.

Frank soon pulled away to give Gerard time to catch his breath and collect his thoughts which were scattered all over the place.  
Gerard looked at Frank's hazy hazel eyes and let himself drown in the lust there.

Frank let his lips taste Gerard's again. Slowly at first but the kiss grew more intense for every second before it turned into a wet mess of tongues and pants. Gerard moaned into Frank's mouth and the tattooed man took that as a sign to let his lips travel down Gerard's jawline.  
Kissing, sucking and nibbling to eventually leave possessive marks on his porcelain skin.

Gerard squeezed his eyes shut and enjoyed the treatment from Frank's exploring mouth. He let his hands awkwardly place themselves on Frank's back.  
He was so inexperienced and did not have an idea of what to do.

Gerard's member was fully alive, desperately trying to either get friction or air. Preferably both.

Frank seemed to notice Gerard's condition and let his hands travel to the button of Gerard's dark blue jeans. His nimble fingers quickly unbuttoned it and slip the zipper down.  
Before doing anything else he grazed Gerard's earlobe with his teeth.

"This is my way of thanking you for being such a good host," Frank whispered into Gerard's ear. Gerard simply melted and surrendered under the magic touch of Frank's hands.  
His legs were like spaghetti and it was like his head had floated away on a cloud. Nothing had ever felt better.

Frank managed to pull Gerard's jeans and boxers down enough to set the aching and pulsating member free. Frank didn't look at it though. Not a single glance.  
His right hand touched it briefly to receive a gasp from Gerard who tilted his head back against the wall.

"You're welcome," Gerard mumbled lustily. Frank wrapped his hand around Gerard's member like a ball and started moving it rhythmically up and down.

Gerard dug his fingers into Frank's back and moaned loudly. He had beat his meat many times before, but he had never been as sensitive as now. If this what was sex was like with another person he had certainly missed out on something.

Frank sped the pace up, occasionally giving Gerard small kisses on the lips, jaw and neck. One especially erotic zone for Gerard was the soft curve of his neck.  
Frank only had to brush his lips gently over the area of skin to get Gerard to groan lustily.

"Fuck," Gerard panted when he felt the tension in his lower stomach and his groin. He was so close. With a couple of pumps from Frank's hard-working hand he came and slid down the wall to a sitting position. His legs could not carry him any longer.

Frank turned the water on in the sink and washed the semen off of his hand.

Gerard breathed heavily and looked at Frank. He had gotten what he had wanted all along now and he felt so thankful for what Frank had just given him.  
The best apology ever.   
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	29. Attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank is conflicted on whether or not he wants to be with Gerard.

Frank exited the bathroom quickly after that and left Gerard sitting on the floor all by himself on the cold floor. Gerard's limbs were resting and he was utterly exhausted.  
His muscles felt like sauce and he was a bit light-headed.

Everything was still a blur. The lights dim, spinning and moving. Was this reality or was it a dream? Gerard didn't know, but his body told him that it was the truth.  
He had really gotten a handjob from Frank.

It wasn't something Gerard had expected to ever happen and he did not know why Frank suddenly decided to show his member such affection.  
The explanation wasn't that important since all that mattered was the action. Then what would the consequences be?

Gerard didn't have energy enough to worry his little sleepy head about the consequences.  
If it was up to Gerard, it would only continue and go crazier. Hotter touches, louder moans and abused mouths.  
In a perfect world Frank and Gerard's relationship would get more serious.

Gerard managed to stand up on shaky legs and he stood by the doorpost, peeking around it to look at Frank lying on the mattress.  
The man's chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm. Frank was sleeping.

Sometimes he twitched and his small body moved in his sleep. Gerard found those little jerks very adorable.  
He decided to stay in the bathroom to not disturb Frank's peaceful sleep, even if he desperately wanted to go over there and touch his hot skin.  
Kiss his lips. Make him quiver with longing. Play with the black and blond hair. Run his hands over the lean arms.

Gerard wanted to go to the other room. He needed it. But he wouldn't. Not when Frank seemed to be so damn tired.  
Lust had taken over almost every part of Gerard's brain. Not the caring part, though. That was why Gerard forced himself to stay in the bathroom.

With a sigh he closed the door and placed himself in the bathtub. Why not sleep when you have nothing else to do?

And sleep was exactly what he did.

The moment Gerard's eyes opened again he was on his way out of the bathtub. One month and three days left until he would be dancing with angels.  
But was that what he really wanted?

He froze as that question was born in the back of his head. Did he really want to die? Maybe, maybe not.  
Gerard had actually started to enjoy waking up in the mornings to talk to Frank. It made him calm and excited at the same time.

Sure, God had taken away happiness but Gerard had never even experienced that feeling to begin with. He didn't know what he was missing out on, so how could he want and miss it?  
Gerard could make his own happiness by being with Frank.

He opened the bathroom door and hurried outside to draw a small X on the calendar. Frank was awake but still lying down.  
Frank didn't make a sound. No 'Good morning's. No anything.

Gerard prepared some breakfast to be nice. Bread and butter, a very luxurious way to start a day.  
He took the food and sat down next to Frank, giving him a gentle nudge to make him open his eyes.

Reluctantly, the hazel eyes fluttered open. Frank's eyebrows were furrowed, giving him a slightly wrinkled forehead.

"Breakfast," Gerard said softly and waved a slice of bread in the air. Frank stretched his arms into the air and then sat up.  
They ate in silence, dipping the bread into the butter and slowly chewing on it.

Gerard felt very uneasy and rolled his shoulders. He could see the tension in Frank's body and didn't know what was the cause of it.  
When they were finished eating Frank cleared his throat.

"About yesterday..." he started, "The things we did can never happen again."

It felt like a thousand wild horses had stomped on Gerard's head. The headache sudden and painful.  
"I understand," Gerard lied. He really didn't though. Why would Frank even touch him like that if he didn't want to go any further?

Gerard squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his fingers in circles against his throbbing temples.

Before he had time to react he was pushed onto his back. His eyes flew open in surprise only to see Frank lying on top of him, staring blankly into Gerard's eyes.  
His tattooed arms trembling as he panted.

Then their lips met. Again.   
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	30. Dirty Dance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank and Gerard being naughty. **Explicit contents**

Gerard wasn't used to not being in charge, but he let that slide as Frank had his body like a blanket over himself. Their tongues played a wicked dance of slipping in and out, rolling and twisting.  
Both boys fought for dominance without winning. It ended in a draw, which none of them was especially happy about.

Gerard felt Frank's cool fingers spin their way up underneath Gerard's black T-shirt. The touch made him shiver, both because of excitement and the fact that the fingers were cold like fucking ice.  
So much pleasure from such a simple touch. How could that even be possible?

Frank had said that they couldn't continue doing what they were doing, what that now meant. Being attracted to each other? Having lusts? Kissing? Sharing the apartment?  
Gerard didn't know. All he knew was that Frank had said that and the following moment thrown himself at Gerard like a beast ready to hump the fuck out of a rabbit.

Gerard was a victim of Frank's shilly-shally back and forth. He never understood if Frank really enjoyed their closeness or if he went with it to show thankfulness.  
That didn't matter as the boys were connected by their lips.

Gerard's cock had gotten hard. It remembered that the last time Frank has kissed him, it had lead to him giving a handjob too. He sure wanted an encore of that.

Frank tugged at the hem of Gerard's shirt. They broke their kiss for a few seconds only to remove the unwanted piece of fabric.  
Gerard helped Frank to slide the black T-shirt off and threw it away. God knows were it went. It could be on its way to China.  
Then Gerard grabbed Frank's head and pulled his face down to his own. Their lips slammed together, Frank let out a moan which sent vibrations through Gerard's trembling body.

Now Gerard laid with his naked chest fully exposed to Frank, who was straddling his legs. The shorter man on top made sure to hold Gerard's legs together to make sure that he would make drastic movements.  
He then moved his lips from Gerard's and let his tongue leave a sticky trail of saliva wherever he let it travel.

Down his neck. Around the moving Adam's apple. Over the collarbones. Circling the left nipple.   
Gerard let his head fall back and groaned throatily. Everything sent electric shocks through him, like Frank was some kind of an electrician.

Frank stopped licking the sensitive skin around Gerard's nipple and instead put his head an inch away from Gerard's body, blowing cool air onto the saliva he recently had placed there. His nipples immediately got hard as two small rocks.  
The sensation made Gerard hiss with delight. His jeans felt too tight as his member was growing and trying to push its way out into freedom.

Gerard wanted Frank to experience the same thing, so he placed his hands underneath the shorter man's shirt. Frank seemed to be enjoying it as he quickly pulled the shirt over his head and placed it on the floor next to him.  
Gerard placed his hands on Frank's waist and forced him to lie down on top of Gerard.

They kissed and their naked chests rubbed against each other. The heat coming from Frank's naked skin was almost too much to take for Gerard who started grinding against Frank's hips.  
Frank met the movements and moaned softly. Something was definitely growing inside his pants too, Gerard stated.

"Yes," Gerard hissed as their dirty worm-like dance got hotter.

Something seemed to snap in Frank and he pulled away quickly, rolling off Gerard. Frank's eyes stared at Gerard in horror.  
"No," he whispered.


	31. Strange Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank finally tells Gerard about his feelings.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Gerard hissed agitatedly. He didn't appreciate the fact that Frank had teased him all the way to the edge and then pulled away.  
Frank moved further and further away from Gerard with fearfulness in his big eyes.

Gerard groaned. His stiff member was so blood-filled that it actually was painful for him not to jack off. The jeans tamed it and forced it to be caged.  
But oh, how it wanted to break free from its chains of jeans.

Frank's facial expression turned from frightened to angry and his sweet face started getting a red shade. "You need to stop, Gerard!" Frank howled. He grabbed the radiator and pulled himself up on his feet, pacing the room slowly.  
Gerard stayed on the ground. He didn't want to reveal his 'situation' even if he knew that Frank had felt it against his stomach as they made out.

Self-consciously, Gerard grabbed the flat pillow from the mattress and put it over his crotch. It actually just made the bulge stand out even more.  
He bit his lip not to moan.

Gerard needed to get his hard-on down. But how? He forced himself to think about rotten fish, pimples and Frank's wound when he had first seen it. It was impossible to feel even the tiniest bit excited with that rolling like a movie in your head.

"Stop? Stop doing what? I haven't done anything!" Gerard said and desperately shot his arms out in the air and gestured wildly. He didn't get Frank and why the short man could go from being all over him to backing off like he was the devil in a matter of seconds.  
Was he schizophrenic? That would explain a lot. Gerard hoped he wasn't though.  
He did like Frank, but having two Franks with different personalities would be too much even for Gerard.

"Not doing anything? Bullshit! You're seducing me!" Frank hissed and reached for his T-shirt which was lying on the floor. He quickly put it on to cover his naked chest up with fabric.  
Gerard's jaw dropped.

"Frank, you were the one who started making out with me. I didn't even give you a wink to start it off with! And yesterday too, I didn't exactly tell you to touch my dick," Gerard said, he couldn't believe how ignorant Frank was.

Frank scrunched his face up, groaning and balling his hands into clenched fists. He didn't speak. The sound of his feet colliding with the floor was rhythmical as he walked back and forth.

Gerard ran a hand through his greasy long hair and sighed. "You want me, Frank. That's OK, because I want you too," Gerard said with a shaky voice.  
Frank shook his little head from side to side violently.

"No... I don't want you!" he said and his voice cracked. It didn't even sound like he believed the words himself.  
Gerard raised an eyebrow in disbelief and pierced the tattooed man with his green stare.

Frank turned his gaze away and shifted his body weight awkwardly. He had stopped pacing the room. "Fine, I want you. I fucking want you so fucking much that you have no fucking idea."

Gerard's expression immediately softened. That was everything he had ever asked for. Frank wanted him. Then why didn't it feel as good as he imagined it would?  
"I don't understand why you're pulling away then," Gerard said.

Frank slumped down into a sitting position next to Gerard. He placed his head on Gerard's shoulder. It was heavy as a brick.  
Gerard found it strange that Frank changed his mood so suddenly. That's what he thought was typical for girls, not sexy grown up men.

"I'm confused. You're a male and I'm not used to crave them. I haven't even looked at a man in a lustfilled way before," Frank whispered and sighed softly into Gerard's ear.  
Gerard didn't say a word, he just wrapped his arm around Frank's back and held him.

Such a strange boy.   
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 **A/N:** Can I please ask you to check my new story out? It's a six chapter long story featuring Jared Leto.   
Link: [Animal](http://stories.mibba.com/read/400008/Animal/)


	32. Creature

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Has anyone ever told you that you're a weird creature, Gerard?"

Gerard inhaled Frank's scent of confusion and sweat. He didn't know what to do with the boy. They rocked from side to side like a cradle. That's what you do to calm someone down, hush and cradle.  
"You're quiet," Frank stated with his softest voice. Gerard playfully blew cold air into Frank's ear.  
"I'm thinking," he said as an explanation. And he was indeed thinking.

He thought about life and death, like he had done so many times before. Not getting his mind straight this time either.  
If God wanted to make all people disappear, why not just wipe them out with a big tidal wave? He had done it before with Noah and the ark. Maybe God didn't want to do same trick twice.  
Such a showoff.

Gerard huffed at his own thoughts.

Then again, if what Gerard thought was right it meant that meant God was going to save at least two humans, man and woman, to repopulate the earth again. Maybe that was his divine plan.  
Or God had just grown fucking tired of us humans and wanted to flush us down the toilet.

"Care to share?" Frank asked, letting the weight of his head be put on Gerard's shoulder. Gerard only shook his head. Sections of his long and greasy dark hair hung in front of his face.  
"Not now," he said and placed a kiss on top of Frank's head.

It was comfortable to sit like that, holding each other and simply being in the moment. Gerard let his thumb caress Frank's back as he sunk into his own thoughts again.

What would Frank do when Gerard had passed away? Would Frank miss him? He would most likely stay in the apartment. Probably get laid with a few girls too. If Gerard knew Frank right, the short boy would get himself into loads of trouble too.  
A small sigh tore Gerard away from the thoughts.

"We should go and grill that fish now," Frank suggested. They had bought a fresh fish from the store because Frank had gotten the smart idea of letting it cook over a fire.  
Since the apartment didn't have electricity that was the only way to get something heated up. Conveniently enough there were big fires lit practically everywhere.  
You didn't have to go more than a mile from one fire to see the next.

Gerard raised his thick eyebrows. "Now? We just had breakfast," he said, referring to the bread and butter they had ate.

"I'm a guy. I'm always hungry! We don't have to eat it all now either. Why not save some of the fish for later?" Frank rambled, stumbling over his words like an excited child. Guess he really wants to broil the damn fish, Gerard thought.

"Fuck. Why not?" Gerard said, giving in to the wish of his little protégé. Frank placed a feather-light kiss on Gerard's cheek.  
Gerard liked that. It was sweet. But for how long would that sweetness last? Frank hadn't really proved that he was the most emotionally stable person on the planet.  
He knew that they would have to have a deeper conversation about their feelings and where they wanted it to go, but decided to save that for later. They would have loads of time to talk after they had gotten the raw fish eatable.

Gerard stood up on his feet and lend Frank a hand so that he also could stand up. They then exited the apartment, Frank with the fish in his hand. Like the previous time the boys had gone outside together, they got weird stares.  
Two boys one fish. Not exactly the vision you would expect to see come walking down the streets.

Frank and Gerard hurried to get to the fire.  
"Do you have a stick or something to pierce the fish with?" Frank asked, looking around the surroundings for something that would work as good as a stick. Gerard found a thin iron pipe which was sharper at one end.  
"Here!" he said and waved it before Frank's face.

The shorter man snatched the iron pipe out of Gerard's hand and simply staked the fish with it. Gerard winced and turned away. It looked like it hurt.  
"Calm down. The fish is dead," Frank said snottily. Gerard nodded but still refused to look at the fish.

Frank shook his head and let the fish on the iron pipe be cooked next to the fire. "Has anyone ever told you that you're a weird creature, Gerard? You didn't even wince while taking care of my wound and still you act like a baby when a dead fish gets staked."   
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	33. I Love You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gerard's big confession.

When Frank had grilled the poor fish into a black piece of coal, the boys started walking back towards the apartment. Frank hadn't been the best chef considering the fish's condition. It was not eatable.  
They had chucked the fish into the fire and watched the remnants turn to ashes.

Frank shrugged. "At least I gave it an honest try." Wind blew in from his side, causing his big and baggy T-shirt to flap.

Gerard had a hard time letting go of the wasted money in the form of the wasted fish. "Too bad you sucked," he said to receive a soft push from Frank.

Frank was recovering from the damage, which had been made on his leg, well. It seemed like he limped less for each hour that passed.  
He had a fighter's soul. That was probably why he managed to both stay alive and be sane. At least relatively sane for a person who had been through the stuff Frank had.

When they got inside the apartment it was too early for them to go asleep. They still had a couple of hours to kill before the night would fall and none of them felt tired, really.  
"What do you want to do?" Frank choked with watery eyes. He was trying to hold back a sneeze.

"Don't do that!" Gerard snapped, "let it out. It's going to kill your braincells if you keep it in."  
Frank rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out.

"Don't worry about it, mum," he said to mock Gerard and his way of often being overprotective. Gerard shook his head, took off his coat and shoes and walked over to the mattress where he plopped down into a sitting position.  
Frank followed him and copied Gerard's move, sitting cross-legged an inch away from the taller man.

"How did we get here?" Gerard sighed and buried his face into the palms of his hands. He was referring to the world. The fucked up world.  
Frank read off the question in another way.

"Well, I got stabbed. You saved me. You were a creep. I liked that. And here we are," Frank said, every sentence short and full of life. Full of memories from their time together.

Gerard removed the hands blocking his face and looked at Frank to see those smart hazels looking back. He couldn't control the words rolling off his tongue at the speed of light.  
"I think I'm in love with you, Frank."

Frank didn't move. Didn't breathe.  
Gerard got up to his feet, stumbling as he reached for the wall to get support.

"Do you know what love is?" Frank asked quietly after a brief moment of silence. Gerard nodded and felt how his eyes were tearing up. This wasn't how he was supposed to say it.  
He hadn't even had time to process his feelings yet.

"Yes," Gerard breathed. Holding on to the wall for dear life. His knees were buckling.  
I'm so weak, he thought.

"Tell me what you think it is then?" Frank asked. The smaller man managed to sound completely calm. Not a trace of anything could be seen on his expressionless face.  
It couldn't be a good sign.

"Love to me is the feeling of being with you," Gerard started, stuttering as he hit a couple of words, "when we are together I want it to last forever. Even when we're quiet it's perfect."

Now all Gerard could do was to wait for what Frank had to say. The future of their friendship laid in his hands.

"Come down here and kiss me," Frank said. Gerard let out a sigh of utter relief.

It wasn't over yet.   
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	34. Fully Exposed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gerard gets his ass-virginity taken. **Explicit contents**

Gerard wasn't late to obey Frank's demand. He lowered himself down to place a kiss on the shorter man's lips. It was only a brief thing and didn't lead anywhere.  
Frank patted the mattress with his hand to make Gerard sit down on it next to him. The dark-haired man sat down very willingly.

"You wanted to have sex, right?" Frank asked. Gerard was a bit shaken by the blunt question, but still he got turned on by the honesty of it. He nodded eagerly.  
Frank exhaled and leaned back, supporting himself with his arms.

"Then this is how it goes," Frank started, "I'm going to be on top. Are you okay with that?"

"Yes!"  
The answer rolled off Gerard's tongue quickly. But was he really okay with it? He hadn't had something up his ass before and the uncertainty about what was about to come made him feel insecure.  
He decided to at least try it. How bad could it be?

"Fine. You are in the game and therefore you're going to play by my rules," Frank said flatly.

"Lay down on your back," the smaller man then commanded. Gerard submissively did what he had been told and looked up at Frank's hazel eyes. The only eyes worth trusting in the entire world.  
Frank's hands roamed his body freely. They glided up and down his sides, over his chest and caressed the insides of his thighs.

Gerard inhaled sharply and enjoyed the moment. Those touches simply made him melt. Frank's hands started tugging at the hem of Gerard's shirt and they helped each other to take it off.  
Frank didn't bother to share any more of his strokes and caresses as he removed his own T-shirt and pulled his pants down swiftly. Gerard's jeans soon got added to the pile of discarded clothes.

"Still want this?" Frank asked hesitantly. Something slammed against the outside of the outer wall and Frank's head snapped to the side to look at the direction of the sound.  
It didn't appear to be anything important so he then decided to give his full attention to the half-naked Gerard who was lying splayed out on the mattress.

"I think so," Gerard breathed nervously. He dug his fingers into the scruffy pallet to get rid of his anxiety.

Frank bent over the chicken of a protector and kissed him, slipping his tongue into the other man's mouth. Gerard was now more familiar with the tongue-thing.  
It now went like a smooth dance of wet muscles. It wasn't out of sync anymore and their teeth didn't clash.  
Gerard let himself playfully suck on Frank's lip piercing to receive a small vibrating moan.

He had officially graduated from the school of kissing.

His boxers felt a bit tight since the thing caged inside had started to grow out of proportions. Frank slid his own bowers off to reveal his semi-hard member. He wrapped his fingers around it and carefully pulled the foreskin back and forth, squeezing his eyes shut. Head tilted back, he hissed with pleasure.

Gerard couldn't hold back the words as Frank beat the meat right on front of him.  
"That's fucking sexy," he said dreamily as he watched the most attractive man alive touch himself.

The fact that he was able to get so turned on by another man proved to Gerard that what they were doing was right. His brain was in a horny haze.  
"You want some of it?" Frank asked jadishly.

Gerard nodded and shivered when he heard Frank talk like that. Those dirty words coming out of that perfectly chiseled mouth could make anyone tremble. Frank whole body oozed of confidence when the next sentence came flying out of the depths of his lungs.

"Good. Then take everything off."

Frank was referring to the only piece of fabric Gerard had left on his body. The boxers.  
The undergarment was torn off and in the blink of an eye on top of the pile of clothes too.

Frank held his hand in front of Gerard's mouth. He didn't get what Frank was trying to do though. The green eyes stared questioningly at the hazel ones.  
"Suck my fingers," Frank explained and put his index finger softly against Gerard's upper lip. The taller man licked it up and down before taking it into his mouth and coating it with saliva.

The fact that Frank was so clear with what he wanted made Gerard feel less insecure and awkward. Frank knew what he was doing and there were no reasons for Gerard to be worried.  
Just hop on the ride.

Frank added a second finger into Gerard's mouth. The tongue swiveled around the fingers to really soak them properly.

Frank then extracted the fingers and started rearranging Gerard's excited body. The legs were spread further apart and he placed the pillow under the small of Gerard's back to lift his ass up a little.  
That gave him a better chance of coming in contact with the opening.

Gerard was in an quite strange position with his legs spread wider apart than a hooker. Fully exposed. Naked. Horny.

Frank's hand got closer and closer to the pink star which was the entrance to Gerard's body. "Ready? This might feel a bit uncomfortable," Frank asked and furrowed his eyebrows.  
Gerard nodded swiftly. He just wanted it to be done. He wanted pleasure.

Frank let his index finger slide quickly into Gerard, whose eyes widened. It was indeed uncomfortable. Frank didn't ask more questions and instead focused on slipping his wet finger in and out of the opening.  
As soon as Gerard had gotten used to the new sensation, Frank added another finger and Gerard's muscles tensed up.

It did hurt a little bit, but most of all it was uneasy.

Frank decided that Gerard wasn't in need of more preparations and pulled his fingers out. A small 'plop' followed.  
Then there was another thud against the wall. Both Gerard and Frank looked over at the window, but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. They shrugged the sounds from the outside off and continued what they were doing.

The shorter man spat in his hands and covered his blood-filled member in sticky saliva before positioning himself between Gerard's legs. Their faces were inches apart.  
"This is you last chance to stop me," Frank said severely to a sweating Gerard.

He was getting tired of Frank asking him if he was ready or if everything was OK. Yes, he was fine. But he wouldn't be fine if he didn't get Frank inside of him, soon.

"Just go! Fuck me," Gerard begged. Frank wasted no time as he rammed himself into Gerard without mercy. It was a forceful thrust which left Gerard speechless.  
It hurt like hell and was like shitting backwards with the turd on fire.

Gerard saw stars, but not in a good way. The haze of lust before his eyes was gone and only pain was left.

When Gerard didn't object, Frank kept slamming himself into the taller man. "So tight," he hissed through clenched teeth. Frank's tongue stuck out slightly as he concentrated on his penetrations.

Gerard squeezed his eyes shut and begged to higher powers that it would be over soon. He didn't want to stop Frank in fear of him getting pissed off.

Watery pearls trickled down Frank's forehead as he got closer to the edge. Then, finally, he collapsed onto Gerard. The salty semen seeped out of Gerard's opening as he pulled the cock out.  
The shorter man then rolled off Gerard.

No after sex cuddle? Gerard was a bit disappointed. His first time hadn't been magic like he had imagined it to be. Instead it had been so painful and he hadn't even climaxed himself.  
He didn't have time to dwell on his lost ass-virginity before they heard another thump against the outer wall.

"What the hell is that?" Frank asked, still out of breath from the pounding he had given Gerard. He wiped sweat off of his forehead and then wrinkled it. Gerard shrugged.

The two boys didn't need to be asking themselves about that any more as a brick came flying through the window, breaking it into a million pieces.


	35. Bricks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank's attackers are back.

The brick landed a couple of feet away from the boys. "Take cover!" Gerard screamed as it was the first thing that came into his mind.  
Frank, whose mouth hung wide open, grabbed his and Gerard's clothes and crawled over to a corner far away from the window. Gerard followed him quickly and they started putting their clothes on.

"What just happened?" Frank asked, his eyes about to pop out of their sockets. Gerard could actually hear the sound of Frank's small pounding heart.  
"I don't know," he answered truthfully and jumped as another brick came flying through the broken window. It landed a couple of inches away from the first one.

They could hear voices shouting from the street. Many voices.  
"Guys, we broke the fucking window!"  
"He can't hide in there for long."  
"Oh Frank? Come out, come out, wherever you are!"  
"We got him now."

Gerard noticed how Frank had started shaking violently and the boy's head hung low. The blond sides of his head had started to grow longer to reveal his natural hair colour underneath the bleach. A dark brown colour.  
"It's them. The ones who tried to kill me before. They must have heard that I'm still alive," the shorter man whispered sadly.

Gerard pulled his lover into a tight embrace. "I won't let them get you. I'll protect you," he hushed into Frank's ear and ruffled the long black hair on top of the smaller man's head lovingly.

Frank stared blankly into the wall and his lips were pursed into a thin line. "They won't leave until blood has been shed."  
Gerard frowned. No one was going to lay a hand on his Frank. Not again.

The boys sat in the same position for hours. They were trapped in their own apartment. Caged like animals.  
By the sounds of it, someone was trying to kick their door in as well. Luckily, it was a massive wooden thing which wouldn't buckle without a good fight.

The bricks suddenly stopped raining in through the window and Frank pulled away from Gerard's embrace. He crawled on his hands and knees towards the window and kept himself crouched down by the wall underneath it.

Gerard's eyes widened. "What are you doing?" he hissed to the smaller man.

"Trust me," Frank whispered and stood up to reveal himself in the window. Gerard was waiting for a brick to smash open Frank's skull, but nothing happened.

"What do you want?" Frank yelled to the people who were standing on the street a couple of meters underneath himself.  
The answer made Gerard cringe and whimper.

"Your head on a plate!"

Frank scoffed and flailed his arms as he spoke. "Why don't you just bother someone else? I haven't done anything to insult or upset any of you!"

The answer was soon yelled back at Frank. "Why would we? You can't get out of there so it's just a matter of time before we'll make sludge out of your head with this fucking iron pipe!" a voice called.

Frank decided that he didn't want to continue the conversation and dove down to the floor and crawled back to Gerard again.  
He put his lips close to Gerard's ear and breathed.  
"There are three men down there with iron pipes and hoods and there's probably one more waiting by our door."

Gerard sighed. They would never get through at least four armed men. It was a mission doomed to fail.

Gerard didn't worry about his safety for even a split second.

"We can't hide in here forever," Gerard started with a shaky voice, "we'll run out of food."

Frank nodded. "Let's hope that they have grown tired of waiting by then."


	36. Crunching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You never know when you're going to wake up.

Two days passed and the attackers never stopped waiting down on the street. They soon got tired of screaming things to Frank though.  
Sometimes one of them disappeared for awhile, probably to sleep for a couple of hours.

Frank and Gerard didn't have time to sleep. They were too busy playing their roles as victims to do anything but shake and discuss possible ways of them to get out alive.  
They still had food, but the need of sleep was greater than their hunger at the point.

Gerard's eyelids drooped and he yawned every other minute. Frank was also tired, but kept a straight face. He had gotten a plan.  
Frank knew how he could survive the situation.  
But the shorter man could not share his plan with Gerard.

"Do you think they know that I'm also here? Maybe they're only expecting you to be here. That could give us an advantage," Gerard said, sounding weird as he at the same time as speaking tried to hold back a yawn.  
Frank shrugged.

"I don't know, but they'll probably just end us both with those iron pipes," he answered calmly, like he had accepted his fate. Gerard frowned and shivered. He only had one month and one day left to live.  
Dying wasn't an option. Gerard planned on being economic with the small amount of food that they had left. The food had to last. It just had to.

Another yawn escaped Gerard's mouth and he licked his dry lips to give them some moisture. Frank sent him a look and shook his head.  
"I'll look after you if you sleep," Frank said quietly.

Gerard grimaced. "No, you also need to sleep."

Frank slapped the man with long and greasy black hair playfully on his arm. "You can barely keep your eyes open! Go to sleep and then you can guard me when you wake up," he said sternly. Frank had set his mind on letting Gerard sleep first and wouldn't give in.

"But..." Gerard started but got cut off by Frank. He had grabbed Gerard's shoulders roughly, digging his fingers into the soft flesh.

"Listen to me now, God dammit. Sleep," he hissed. His dark eyebrows were furrowed and the hazel eyes shot lightnings.

"Okay," Gerard breathed. He was a bit taken aback by how serious Frank was about the sleeping thing.

Gerard curled himself up into a tired human ball on the floor and closed his eyes. "Good," Gerard heard Frank breathe the one little word into his ear and that was what he fell asleep to.

The world and the harsh reality was pulled away from Gerard as he drifted off to sleep. Soon he found himself walking in a blooming garden, watching his mother pick apples from a big beautiful tree.  
Frank laid on a plaid quilt and looked sexier than ever. The shorter man's hair was clean and he had a healthy glow to his skin.

It was only a dream, but Gerard wanted to make the most out of it regardless of it really happened or not. He placed himself next to Frank on the quilt.  
The shorter man immediately put his head on Gerard's lap.

Gerard let his slender fingers run through Frank's smooth hair while humming on an upbeat song. Birds sang along. The wind sang along. The world sang along.  
After a few minutes, Gerard stopped humming and just looked at the man resting on his lap. He couldn't stop thinking about how absolutely gorgeous the angelic man was.  
His cheeks were rosy, as if he had been sunbathing for an hour.

"This is just a dream," Frank whispered. Gerard ruffled his lover's hair lovingly.

"I know."

Dark clouds started to cover up the sun and darkness fell over the garden.  
"You have to wake up," Frank continued and started to fade away into smoke. Gerard desperately tried to grab what was left of Frank before all of him turned into a cloud of black smoke.

"I know," Gerard repeated sadly and felt himself being sucked back into reality.

The sound of something crunching was what brought Gerard back to consciousness again.

It took him a second to realise where the crunching sounds came from.  
It was the sound of his bones breaking.


	37. So Long

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end.

Gerard's eyes opened only to see an iron pipe breaking the bones of his other leg, just above the knee. The person pulverizing his bones was one of the attackers which had been waiting on the street.  
Gerard could tell by the attacker's dark hood which covered up most of his face. Only a robustly stubbled chin and a pair of thin snake-like lips could be seen.

The air escaped Gerard's lungs as the initial shock rolled in over him, but as soon as he collected himself enough to inhale again a haunting scream escaped his chapped lips. The pain was almost unbearable.  
Gerard had never been seriously injured before and that kind of pain was something new to him. It felt like his legs weren't his anymore.  
He could barely move them and if he tried, the pain got twentvy times worse.

Frank was supposed to wake him up if something happened. So, why hadn't he? Maybe the attackers had got to him first...

The thought of Frank already being dead made Gerard whimper. He was supposed to protect Frank, not sleep while the shorter man got killed. Hot, salty tears started to roll down his cheeks.  
Gerard tried to hold them back, but didn't succeed. He shouldn't show the men weakness. That was what they ate and thrived in.

He glanced around to see that three other man with hoods covering their faces were standing in the hallway, arms crossed and tapping their feet.

"What did you do to Frank?" Gerard spat towards the man hovering over him with the iron pipe resting in his scarred hands. The man dropped the pipe to the floor, pulling his hood off to reveal his face.

He had olive skin and dark, glowing eyes. His cheeks were hollow and his long wispy hair tucked behind his small ears. The eyes were what really scared Gerard. They were pure evil and didn't radiate even an ounce of compassion or guilt.  
The man was enjoying seeing Gerard in pain. He adored the feeling of smashing another living person into pieces.

"Nothing," the man with olive skin said calmly. Was that the truth? Probably not.

Gerard balled his hands up into fists and flailed his arms in the air. There was no way that he would inflict any damage on the man, but he wanted to at least try it.  
The river of tears trickled down Gerard's cheeks. He cried because he had failed to protect Frank and because his broken bones hurt like hell itself.

"You're lying!" Gerard cried and almost choked on his words.

The man furrowed his eyebrows and waved towards the men in the hallway. Gerard stared at them suspiciously. What were they up to? Did he really need assistance to kill Gerard?  
With no legs to run with Gerard was an easy prey.

The men in the hallway opened the bathroom door and gestured for someone to come. A leg stepped out of the bathroom and a body followed shortly after that.  
Gerard recognised the body. It was Frank's.

"Frank, run! Run!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.

Frank didn't run. He didn't even say a word to Gerard.  
The hazel eyes simply stared at Gerard, expressionless, like he didn't even know the person lying on the ground.

Gerard didn't understand. He didn't want to understand.

"What are you doing? Run!" he pleaded, tears flooding from the corners of his eyes.

The man hovering over Gerard sat himself down on his knees next to the crying man and sighed. "Don't you understand? Your friend bargained with us. He said that we could kill you if we let him hunt with us," the man started and hauled a knife up from the pocket of his jeans, "we thought that Frank's suggestion was quite acceptable."

The blade of the knife ran over Gerard's cheek to cause a small cut. It was only a thin line which the blood started seeping out of, mixing itself with the tears.  
Gerard squeezed his eyes shut and whimpered sadly. The physical pain was nothing compared to the emotional.

The man plunged his knife into Gerard. Two effective stabs just above the belly button. He then let the knife slide down into his pocket again, not caring that it was covered in sticky, hot blood.  
Gerard didn't care what they did to his body anymore. It was over. He was going to die.

"That'll be enough. He'll never be able to survive that," the attacker said proudly, looking over at his fellow helpers. Frank was now one of them. He didn't show any kinds of emotions as he watched Gerard's bleeding body.

The attacker got up and started walking to the door, dragging the small group of men with him. Frank stayed in the hallway though. "I'm just going to get the food in here. Wait for me on the street," he mumbled.  
Everyone except for Frank then left the apartment to run down the stairs, screaming and cheering. They had ruined another life. Oh, the joy.

Frank took Gerard's long coat and put it on, then walked into the kitchen and started grabbing what he could get to fit into his pockets. He then leaned against a wall and sighed.

"Gerard, you have to understand why I did this," he started. His lips moved. The betraying lips which had kissed Gerard multiple times.

"You reminded me of what I once had with Anna-Belle and made me want to experience that again. I want to go to heaven now. I want to be with Anna-Belle and it will be much easier to reach that goal if I go from being hunted to being the hunter," Frank continued, almost whispering the words.

That Gerard wasn't able to hate Frank even after what he had done bothered him. Gerard wanted to hate Frank. He needed the hate.  
But he couldn't feel a thing.

The life left Gerard's body at the same pace as the blood gushed out.

Frank started making his way to the door. He stopped at the doorway, giving Gerard the last words he would hear in this life. "Thank you for giving me the opportunity to reunite with Anna-Belle."  
Then Frank was gone. He had left Gerard's dying body behind.

Gerard had learned a valuable lesson the hard way.  
Don't trust anyone.


End file.
